Balancing of environmental attributes in chemical productions

Abstract

The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring and / or controlling of environmental impact of input materials, chemical productions and chemical products, such as mixtures, produced by such chemical productions. The present disclosure relates to a method, an apparatus and a computer-element configured to allocate environmental attribute reduction(s), such as carbon footprint reductions, associated with input material(s) to virtual balancing accounts for selective allocation to chemical products for reducing the environmental impact of such chemical products. The present disclosure further relates to a method, an apparatus and a computer-element configured to selectively allocate environmental attribute reduction(s) stored in virtual balancing accounts to chemical products produced by a chemical production for reducing the environmental impact of such chemical products.

Description

[0001] BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0002] 1

[0003] BALANCING OF ENVIRONMENTAL ATTRIBUTES IN CHEMICAL PRODUCTIONS

[0004] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0005] The disclosure relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring and / or controlling of environmental impact of input materials, chemical productions and chemical products, such as mixtures, produced by such chemical productions. The present disclosure relates to a method, an apparatus and a computer-element configured to allocate environmental attribute reduction(s), such as carbon footprint reductions, associated with input material(s) to virtual balancing accounts for selective allocation to chemical products for reducing the environmental impact of such chemical products. The present disclosure further relates to a method, an apparatus and a computer-element configured to selectively allocate environmental attribute reduction(s) stored in virtual balancing accounts to chemical products produced by a chemical production for reducing the environmental impact of such chemical products.

[0006] TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

[0007] The environmental impact of each supply chain participant is of great interest in supply chains. Transparency between the participants can aid collective reduction of environmental impacts to combat climate change. However, data sharing of environmental impact data is hindered by the lack of common data standards and the lack of trusted data platforms. In addition, the highly specific and centralized setup of data systems today makes exchange and sharing for collective action laborious. Hence, there is a need to develop metrices quantifying the environmental impact of produced products, to simplify data standards relating to environmental impact and to broadly enable a secure exchange of supply chain data relating to the environmental impact.

[0008] SUMMARY

[0009] In one aspect disclosed is a method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for monitoring the environmental impact of an input material delivered to a chemical production for producing one or more chemical product(s) and / or the chemical production using the input material to produce one or more chemical product(s), wherein the input material is delivered in at least two deliveries to the chemical production, the method comprising:

[0010] - providing input material data associated with the input material per delivery of the input material to the chemical production, wherein the input material data per delivery includes an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, an input material quantity provided to the chemical production per delivered input material, and environmental attribute data associated with one or more environmental attribute(s) associated with the delivered input material,

[0011] - classifying the provided input material data into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0012] 2 reduction(s) using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,

[0013] - determining environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the classification and converting the determined environmental attribute reduction(s), to balancing unit(s),

[0014] - allocating the determined balancing unit(s) to a virtual balancing account for allocation of at least a part of the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to at least a part of the chemical products produced by the chemical production.

[0015] An apparatus for monitoring the environmental impact of an input material delivered to a chemical production for producing one or more chemical product(s) and / or the chemical production using the input material to produce one or more chemical product(s), wherein the input material is delivered in at least two deliveries to the chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0016] - a data providing interface configured to provide input material data associated with the input material per delivery of the input material to the chemical production, wherein the input material data per delivery includes an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, an input material quantity provided to the chemical production per delivered input material, and environmental attribute data associated with one or more environmental attribute(s) associated with the delivered input material,

[0017] - an inbound allocator configured to

[0018] • classify the provided input material data into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction (s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction (s) using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,

[0019] • determine environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the classification and converting the determined environmental attribute reduction(s), to balancing unit(s),

[0020] • allocate the determined balancing unit(s) to a virtual balancing account for allocation of at least a part of the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to at least a part of the chemical products produced by the chemical production.

[0021] A method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product to be produced from one or more input materials by a chemical production, the method comprising:

[0022] - providing virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions, wherein the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions are BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0023] 3 allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located and wherein the input material data is classified using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,

[0024] - providing a request for allocation of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions from the one or more virtual balancing account(s) to a further virtual balancing account, wherein the request includes a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product to be produced, target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product to be produced, a target quantity of the chemical product to be produced and data associated with the further virtual balancing account,

[0025] - determining the virtual balancing account(s) and the balancing units based on the request,

[0026] - validating the request by comparing the determined number of balancing units to the account balance of the determined virtual balancing account(s),

[0027] - based on the validation, allocating the determined balancing units to the further virtual balancing account based on the request.

[0028] An apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product to be produced from one or more input materials by a chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0029] - a virtual account system configured to provide virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions, wherein the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions are allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located and wherein the input material data is classified using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,

[0030] - a data providing interface configured to provide a request for allocation of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions from the one or more virtual balancing account(s) to a further virtual balancing account, wherein the request includes a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product to be produced, target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product to be produced, a target quantity of the chemical product to be produced and data associated with the further virtual balancing account,

[0031] - an allocation unit configured to

[0032] • determine the virtual balancing account(s) and the balancing units based on the request, BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0033] 4

[0034] • validate the request by comparing the determined number of balancing units to the account balance of determined virtual balancing account(s),

[0035] • based on the validation, allocate the determined balancing units to the further virtual balancing account.

[0036] A method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product produced or producible by a chemical production from one or more input materials, the method comprising:

[0037] - providing chemical product data associated with the chemical product, wherein the chemical product data includes a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product, a chemical product quantity and target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product,

[0038] - providing virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions, wherein the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions are allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located and wherein the input material data is classified using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,

[0039] - determining at least one virtual balancing account and balancing units to be allocated based on the chemical product data,

[0040] - allocating the determined balancing units from the determined virtual balancing account(s) to the chemical product by linking the determined balancing units to the chemical product identifier.

[0041] An apparatus for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product produced by a chemical production from one or more input materials delivered to the chemical production, the apparatus comprising:

[0042] - a data providing interface configured to provide chemical product data associated with the chemical product, wherein the chemical product data includes a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product, a chemical product quantity and target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product,

[0043] - a virtual account system configured to provide virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions, wherein the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions are allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located and wherein the input material data is classified using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0044] 5 trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,

[0045] - an outbound allocator configured to

[0046] • determine at least one virtual balancing account and balancing units to be allocated based on the chemical product data,

[0047] • allocate the determined balancing units from the determined virtual balancing account(s) to the chemical product by linking the determined balancing units to the chemical product identifier.

[0048] A chemical product produced from one or more input materials delivered to a chemical production, wherein the chemical product is associated with environmental attribute data as provided by the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein.

[0049] Use of a chemical product associated with environmental attribute data as provided by any of the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein to produce at least one product.

[0050] In yet another aspect disclosed is a computer element, such as a computer program product or a machine-readable medium, with instructions, which when executed on one or more computing node(s) or processor(s) is configured to carry out the steps of the method(s) disclosed herein or configured to be carried out by the apparatus(es) disclosed herein.

[0051] Any disclosure, embodiments and examples described herein relate to the methods, the systems, apparatuses, uses, chemical products and computer elements lined out above and below. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples.

[0052] Embodiments

[0053] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be outlined by ways of embodiments and / or examples. It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to said embodiments and / or examples.

[0054] The invention relates to the field of sustainable industrialization, in particular the monitoring and / or controlling of environmental impact associated with input materials delivered to chemical productions and the environmental impact of the chemical production or chemical products produced by the chemical production. Chemical productions undergo dynamic change to reduce environmental impact. In particular such chemical productions are exposed to dynamic changes with regard to the input materials delivered to such chemical productions for the production of chemical products. For example, a reduced product carbon footprint of input materials delivered to the chemical production contributes to the environmental impact of the chemical production and / or chemical products produced by the chemical production. However, selective allocation of environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the use of input materials associated with low or reduced product carbon footprints remains challenging. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0055] 6

[0056] By registering environmental attribute reduction(s), such as emission reduction(s), reduction(s) in abiotic resource depletion potential, reduction(s) in global warming potential, reduction(s) in photochemical ozone creation potential, reduction(s) in eutrophication potential, reduction(s) in acidification potential, reduction(s) in ozone depletion potential, reduction(s) in cumulative energy demand, reduction(s) in water use, reduction(s) in land use, reduction(s) in human toxicity potential, reduction(s) in ecotoxicity potential, reduction(s) in waste generation, reduction(s) in ionizing radiation, reduction(s) in resource depletion, reduction(s) in end-of-life impact, reduction(s) in soil degradation, reduction(s) in noise pollution and / or reduction(s) in abiotic resource use, associated with input materials by way of balancing units in virtual balancing account(s) on entry of such input materials to the chemical production, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials can be made transparent and can be selectively allocated to chemical products produced by the chemical production, avoiding only minor environmental impact reductions of the produced chemical products due to equal distribution of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to a large number of produced chemical products. This way, the environmental impact of chemical products may be selectively controlled based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) allocated to the virtual balancing accounts while avoiding equal distribution of the environmental attribute reduction(s) to all chemical products produced by the chemical production. In addition, the material flow of the input material(s) through the chemical production may be decoupled from the environmental attribute reductions and the environmental attribute reductions may be allocated to chemical products fully or at least partially independent of the material flows.

[0057] By classifying the input material data using the rule-based engine or the trained data-driven model, reliable identification of significant environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production is enabled, allowing to selectively allocate such significant environmental attribute reduction(s) via balancing units to virtual balancing accounts. This way, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production can be made transparent while at the same time enabling selective allocation of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to chemical products. This avoids an equal distribution of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to a large number of chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production, allowing to tailor the environmental impact, such as the product carbon footprint, the abiotic resource depletion potential, the global warming potential, the photochemical ozone creation potential, the eutrophication potential, the acidification potential, the ozone depletion potential, the cumulative energy demand, the water use, the land use, the human toxicity potential, the ecotoxicity potential, the waste generation, the ionizing radiation, the resource depletion, the end-of-life impact, the soil degradation, the noise pollution and / or the abiotic resource use, of chemical products to the needs of chemical product consumers.

[0058] By allocating the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) via balancing units to the virtual balancing account(s), the contribution of input materials with respect to environmental attribute reduction can be tracked according to the physical stream of input materials into the chemical production. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0059] 7

[0060] Specifically for chemical productions that source the same input material, e.g. an input material with a defined chemical composition, from multiple different suppliers, the registration of environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with at least a part of the sourced input material allows to flexibly allocate such reduction(s) to chemical products in line with target environmental attribute data defined for such chemical products, such as environmental attribute data defined for such chemical products by chemical product consumers. The use of virtual balancing accounts further allows to abstract the complexity of sourcing input materials associated with different environmental attribute data with respect to one or more environmental attribute(s) from multiple different suppliers while still allowing to reliably assign environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with at a part of the sourced input materials to produced chemical products. This way the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production can be made transparent and used or selective allocation to produced chemical products while avoiding an equal distribution of such reduction(s) to a large number of chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production.

[0061] By allocating balancing units required to achieve target environmental attribute data, such as a target emission data, target abiotic resource depletion potential data, target global warming potential data, target photochemical ozone creation potential data, target eutrophication potential data, target acidification potential data, target ozone depletion potential data, target cumulative energy demand, target water use data, target land use data, target human toxicity potential data, target ecotoxicity potential data, target waste generation data, target ionizing radiation data, target resource depletion data, target end-of-life impact data, target soil degradation data, target noise pollution data and / or target abiotic resource use data, of a chemical product to be produced to a virtual balancing account associated with such chemical product, e.g. the further balancing account, the required balancing units to achieve the target environmental attribute data may be secured in advance with regard to the production of the chemical product and / or in advance to a request received from a chemical product consumer requesting delivery of a chemical product associated with such target environmental attribute data. This way, environmental attribute reductions available based on environmental attribute(s) associated with delivered input materials may be reliably secured, allowing to ensure fulfilment of future chemical product consumer needs without being dependent on the environmental attribute(s) associated with delivered input materials at the time the consumer request is received. By requesting allocation of balancing units required to achieve target environmental attribute data of a chemical product to be produced, the delivery of input materials associated with environmental attribute reductions required to fulfil the allocation request may be triggered and / or controlled in line with environmental attribute reductions associated with the requested allocation of the balancing units. This way, control over the physical stream of input materials with respect to the environmental attribute reductions associated with such physical stream may enhanced. By requesting allocation of balancing units required to achieve target environmental attribute data of a chemical product to be produced, transparency on the required environmental attribute BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0062] 8 reductions is enabled. Such transparency allows to control input material streams to the chemical production based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials.

[0063] By registering environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials in virtual balancing account(s) on entry of such input materials to the chemical production, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials can be selectively allocated based on target environmental attribute data to chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production, avoiding only minor environmental impact reductions of the produced chemical products due to equal distribution of such environmental attribute reductions to a large number of produced chemical products. This way, the environmental impact, such as the product carbon footprint, the greenhouse gas emissions, the abiotic resource depletion potential, the global warming potential, the photochemical ozone creation potential, the eutrophication potential, the acidification potential, the ozone depletion potential, the cumulative energy demand, the water use, the land use, the human toxicity potential, the ecotoxicity potential, the waste generation, the ionizing radiation, the resource depletion, the end-of-life impact, the soil degradation, the noise pollution and / or the abiotic resource use, of chemical products may be selectively controlled based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) allocated to the virtual balancing accounts while avoiding equal distribution of such reduction to a large number of produced or producible chemical products.

[0064] By linking the target environmental attribute data to the chemical product identifier, such target environmental attribute data may be provided to downstream participants of the product ecosystem using the chemical product to produce product(s). This way, the environmental impact of the chemical product may be made transparent to the downstream participants and may aid in reduction of the environmental impact of products produced by such downstream participants using the chemical product.

[0065] Various units, entities, nodes or other computing components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. Configured to shall recite structure meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks on operation. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components can be configured to perform the task even when the unit / circuit / component is not operating. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components that form the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits and / or memory storing program instructions executable to implement the operation. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions shall be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to.”

[0066] In general, the methods, apparatuses, systems, computer elements, nodes or other computing components described herein may include memory, software components and hardware components. The memory can include volatile memory such as static or dynamic random-access memory and / or nonvolatile memory such as optical or magnetic disk storage, flash memory, programmable read-only BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0067] 9 memories, etc. The hardware components may include any combination of combinatoric logic circuitry, clocked storage devices such as flops, registers, latches, etc., finite state machines, memory such as static random-access memory or embedded dynamic random-access memory, custom designed circuitry, programmable logic arrays, etc.

[0068] The methods disclosed herein may be executed by one or more computing node(s) associated with the chemical production producing the chemical product. The methods disclosed herein may be executed by one or more computing node(s) associated with an operating system of the chemical production. The methods disclosed herein may be executed by one or more computing node(s) associated with the chemical producer operating the chemical production producing the chemical product. The methods disclosed herein may be executed by one or more computing node(s) associated with a plurality of chemical productions. The chemical productions may be located within one or more region(s). The computing node(s) may be associated with a chemical product producer operating at least one of such chemical productions.

[0069] The input material may be a chemical material. The input material may include inorganic chemical materials and organic chemical materials. Inorganic chemical material(s) may be devoid of carbon atoms and / or carbon-hydrogen bond(s) while organic chemical materials (s) include at least one carbon atom and / or at least one carbon-hydrogen bond. The input material may be a mixture. The input material may be a chemical intermediate product. The input material may include a starting material used in any process performed in the chemical production to produce the chemical product. The input material may be a virgin material, e.g. an input material that has not undergone a previous production-and-use cycle, in particular, has not been processed and / or used. The input material may be a recycled material having undergone at least one recycling step. The input material may be delivered to the chemical production. Delivery of the input material may include entering the chemical production and being provided at any entry point of the chemical production. Delivery may include entering the system boundary of the chemical production producing the chemical product. The input material may be used as feedstock to produce the chemical product. The chemical product may be produced via one or more intermediate product(s). Hence, the input material may be directly or indirectly used to produce the chemical product.

[0070] The chemical product may include any chemical product produced from one or more input materials by the chemical production. Produced chemical product(s) may be physical entity / ies of chemical product(s) having been produced by the chemical production. Chemical product(s) to be produced may not yet have been produced by the chemical production but may be produced in the future. Chemical product(s) to be produced may include chemical product(s) planned to be produced, for example based on demand data received from downstream participant(s) (e.g. chemical product consumer(s)). The chemical product may include inorganic chemical products and organic chemical products. Inorganic chemical product(s) may be devoid of carbon atoms and / or carbon-hydrogen bond(s) while organic chemical product(s) include at BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0071] 10 least one carbon atom and / or at least one carbon-hydrogen bond. The chemical product may be a mixture.

[0072] The chemical production may be any chemical production producing chemical products. The chemical production may include one or more process steps. The process steps may involve chemical reactions and / or physical processes. The physical processing may involve the use of chemical materials as input materials. The chemical production may be a chemical production network. The chemical production network may include multiple interlinked processing steps. The chemical production may include the production, refining, processing and / or purification of chemical products. The chemical production may include multiple production chains that produce from one or more input material(s) that enter the chemical production multiple chemical products that exit the chemical production. The chemical production may include physically connected or interconnected production sites. The production sites may be at the same location or at different locations. In the latter case, the production sites may be connected or interconnected by means of dedicated transportation systems such as pipelines, supply chain vehicles, like trucks, ships or other cargo transportation means. The chemical production may chemically convert input materials via chemical intermediates to one or more chemical product(s) that exit the chemical production.

[0073] The chemical production may comprise one or more entry points at which input materials are delivered to the chemical production. Input material may include input material associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) (e.g. low environmental impact input materials), input material not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) (e.g. conventional input materials) or both. The input material associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s) delivered to the entry point of the chemical production may include input material associated with environmental attribute data, such as emission data, abiotic resource depletion potential data, global warming potential data, photochemical ozone creation potential data, eutrophication potential data, acidification potential data, ozone depletion potential data, cumulative energy demand data, water use data, land use data, human toxicity potential data, ecotoxicity potential data, waste generation data, ionizing radiation data, resource depletion data, end-of-life impact data, soil degradation data, noise pollution data and / or abiotic resource use data, being significantly lower than average environmental attribute data and / or predefined environmental attribute data. The average environmental attribute data may be determined based on environmental attribute data associated with multiple deliveries of an input material, e.g. an input material associated with a given input material identifier, to the chemical production. Environmental attribute data being significantly lower than average environmental attribute data may include environmental attribute data being lower than a predefined threshold value. The predefined threshold value is lower than the average environmental attribute data. The predefined threshold value may be based on a given distance to the average environmental attribute data. Environmental attribute data being significantly lower than average environmental attribute data may include environmental attribute data fulfilling a predefined distance to BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0074] 11 the average environmental attribute data or fulfilling a higher distance to the average environmental attribute data than a predefined distance.

[0075] Environmental attribute data may comprise any data related to any property or characteristic related to the environmental impact. Such property may be a property or characteristic of the input material(s) and / or the chemical product(s). The environmental attribute data may indicate an environmental performance of the input material(s), the chemical production and / or the chemical product(s). The environmental attribute data may be derived from properties of the input material(s), the chemical production and / or the chemical product(s). The environmental attribute data may be associated with the environmental impact of the input material(s) and / or the chemical product(s) at any stage during their lifecycle. The stages of the input material or chemical product lifecycle may include the stages of providing raw material, producing intermediate chemical products and producing the chemical products. The environmental attribute data may include environmental attribute data aggregated or accumulated over the lifecycle. The environmental attribute data may include environmental characteristic(s). The environmental characteristic(s) may specify or quantify ecological criteria associated with the environmental impact of the input material(s) and / or the chemical product(s). Environmental characteristic(s) may be produced or derived from measurements taken during the lifecycle of the input material(s) and / or chemical product(s). Environmental characteristic(s) may include impact categories such as carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions or global warming potential, primary energy demand, cumulative energy demand, biotic and abiotic resource consumption, air emissions, stratospheric ozone depletion potential, ozone formation, terrestrial and / or marine acidification, water consumption, water depletion, water availability, water pollution, noise pollution, freshwater and / or marine eutrophication potential, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate matter formation, terrestrial, freshwater and / or marine ecotoxicity, ionizing radiation, agricultural and / or urban land occupation, land transformation, land use, indirect land use, deforestation, biodiversity, mineral resource consumption, and / or fossil resource consumption.

[0076] Emission data may comprise any data related to an environmental footprint of the input material or the chemical product. Emission data may include data relating to the carbon footprint of the input material or the chemical product. Emission data may include data relating to greenhouse gas emissions e.g. released in production of the input material or the chemical product. Emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions may include emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, methane (CH4) emission, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) emission, perfluorocarbons (RFCs) emission, sulphurhexafluoride (SF6) emission, nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) emission, combinations thereof and additional emissions. Emission data may include data related to greenhouse gas emissions of a company’s own operations (production, power plants and waste incineration). The emission data may relate to a sum of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from the consecutive and interlinked process steps related to a particular input material or chemical product. Emission data may include cradle-to-gate emission data related to the sum of greenhouse gas emissions BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0077] 12 based on selected process steps: from the extraction of resources up to the gate where the input material or the chemical product leaves the production.

[0078] Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) may refer to the potential of a chemical compound to contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog, through photochemical reactions in the atmosphere. These reactions are triggered by sunlight and involve pollutants like nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. The POCP may be quantified as kg ethene eq. per unit or per defined time period.

[0079] Emissions such as sulfuric and nitric acids that cause acidifying effects to the environment may result in acidification potential. The acidification potential may be a measure of a molecule’s capacity to increase the hydrogen ion (H+) concentration in the presence of water, thus decreasing the pH value. Effects from acidification potential may cause damage to building materials, paints, lakes, streams, rivers, and various plants and animals. The acidification potential may be quantified as kg SO2- eq. per unit or per defined time period or as mol H+eq. per unit or per defined time period.

[0080] Eutrophication impact potential may be a measure of the effects of excessively high levels of macronutrients, the most important of which are nitrogen and phosphorus. Although nitrogen and phosphorus play an important role in the fertilization of agricultural lands and other vegetation, excessive releases of either of these substances may provide undesired effects on the environment. Nitrogen is often more detrimental to coastal environments than phosphorus. The eutrophication potential may be quantified as kg phosphate eq. per unit or per defined time period, as kg nitrogen eq. per unit or per defined time period or as mol nitrogen eq. per unit or per defined time period.

[0081] Abiotic resource depletion potential (ADP) may quantify the amount of non-living (abiotic) natural resources, such as minerals and fossil fuels, that are extracted or depleted due to human activities. ADP may be measured in kilograms of a certain resource extracted per functional unit of the product or service. For example, ADP may be expressed as kg Sb-Eq (Antimony Equivalent) for minerals and metals and MJ for fossil fuels.

[0082] Target environmental attribute data may include environmental attribute data defined for a particular chemical product. The target environmental attribute data may be defined by the chemical product producer. The target environmental attribute data may be defined by chemical product consumers.

[0083] The environmental attribute reduction may indicate - for one or more environmental attribute(s) - lower environmental attribute(s) of the input material compared to average environmental attribute(s) of input materials delivered to the chemical production. The environmental attribute reduction may relate to a lower carbon footprint, lower greenhouse gas emission, lower abiotic resource depletion potential, lower photochemical ozone creation potential, lower eutrophication potential, lower ozone depletion potential, lower energy demand, lower water use, lower land use, lower human toxicity potential, lower ecotoxicity BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0084] 13 potential, lower waste generation, lower ionizing radiation, lower resource depletion, lower end-of-life impact, lower soil degradation, lower noise pollution and / or lower abiotic resource use compared to an average carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emission, abiotic resource depletion potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, cumulative energy demand, water use, land use, human toxicity potential, ecotoxicity potential, waste generation, ionizing radiation, resource depletion, end-of-life impact, soil degradation, noise pollution and / or abiotic resource use, respectively, of input materials delivered to the chemical production. The environmental attribute reduction may be converted into a quantitative measure, such as balancing units.

[0085] A rule-based engine may be used to classify the provided input material data into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The rule-based engine may be a software or software component that applies one or more rules to at least part of the provided input material data. The rule(s) may include or correspond to executable logic. The rule(s) may be associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data. The predefined environmental attribute data may define threshold environmental attribute data point(s) for classifying the environmental attribute data, such as the carbon footprint, included in the provided input material data as being associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s) or as not being associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s). The predefined environmental attribute data may define threshold environmental attribute data point(s), such as threshold carbon footprint data point(s), for classifying the environmental attribute data included in the provided input material data as being associated with an environmental attribute reduction(s) or as not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The average environmental attribute data may define average environmental attribute data per input material identifier or input material type identifier. The average environmental attribute data per input material identifier or input material type identifier may be determined based on environmental attribute data associated with input materials having been delivered to the chemical production, e.g. historic input material deliveries. The average environmental attribute data may be dynamically adjusted based on determined environmental attribute data. The average environmental attribute may be a static average environmental attribute.

[0086] The trained data-driven model may be trained on historical data sets including associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The input material data may be associated with a plurality of different input materials and / or input materials received from a plurality of different input material suppliers. The input material data may include environmental attribute data. The environmental attribute data may be associated with a classifier classifying the environmental attribute data into environmental attribute data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and environmental attribute data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute data may be associated with a label indicating environmental attribute data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0087] 14 or a label indicating environmental attribute data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be associated with a plurality of different environmental attribute(s). The trained data-driven model may be a trained machine learning algorithm. Machine learning may refer to computer algorithms that improve through experience and are built on a model based on training data utilizing supervised, unsupervised, or semi-supervised machine learning techniques. Supervised learning may include using training data having a known label or result and preparing a model through a training process in which it is required to make predictions and the model is corrected when those predictions are wrong. The training process may continue until the model achieves a desired level of accuracy on the training data. Semi-supervised learning may include using a mixture of labelled and unlabeled input data and preparing a model through a training process in which the model learns the structures to organize the data as well as to make predictions. Unsupervised learning may include using unlabeled input data not having a known result and preparing a model by deducing structures, such as general rules, similarity, etc., present in the input data.

[0088] The data-driven model may be trained by selecting the input and outputs. The inputs and outputs may refer to the number of data points in each of the input and output layers which will be separated in the model by one or more layers of neurons. Any number of input and output data points may be utilized. There may be numerous data inputs, such as numerous environmental attribute data points and two data outputs, such as a classifier being “TRUE” if the environmental attribute data is associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) or “FALSE” if the environmental attribute data is not associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The input data may be selected randomly but with the proviso that the training data contains the complete spectra of environmental attribute data.

[0089] The balancing units may be a quantitative measure of environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production. The balancing units may be a digital representation of the environmental attribute reduction(s). The digital representation may include or relate to the quantity of delivered input materials associated with the environmental attribute(s), the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit, such as the product carbon footprint reduction per balancing unit, an effort variable associated with the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit, the input material delivery, the input material identifier, the input material type and / or the region of delivery of the input material, such as Europe, Asia, America or the like. The balancing units may be associated with a balancing unit identifier. The balancing unit identifier may uniquely identify balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material delivery, balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material identifier, balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material type or balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) for input materials being delivered within a given time period to chemical productions located in a given region. The balancing units may further be associated with the input material identifier of the input material, an effort variable, the input material identifier and / or input material type identifier associated with input material types the delivered input materials are BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0090] 15 associated with. The effort variable may relate to the production effort such as changes in the production process, costs of production inputs such as input materials associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), availability of production inputs such as input materials associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), costs for production supplies or utilities such as energy, availability of production supplies or utilities such as energy or any combinations thereof. The balancing unit may be associated with metadata including the environmental attribute reduction, the balancing unit identifier, a delivery identifier associated with a delivery of input material, the input material identifier(s), the input material type identifier(s), a production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and / or a region identifier associated with the region the chemical production is located in.

[0091] The virtual balancing account (or digital inventory) may refer to a digital storage structure that stores data related to the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such environmental attribute(s). The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions allocated to the virtual balancing account. The metadata may further identify the effort variable(s) associated with the balancing units. The metadata may identify the balancing units, environmental attribute reductions per balancing unit and optionally an effort variable per balancing unit. The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying the input material delivery, the input material, the input material type or the time period and the region the virtual balancing account is associated with. The virtual balancing account may be part of a virtual accounting system including multiple virtual balancing accounts. The virtual balancing account may hold balancing units associated with environmental attribute reductions for transaction. Balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be allocated, added, deleted, withdrawn, deallocated, or deducted from the virtual balancing account. The virtual balancing account may be a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain. The distributed ledger may store data indicating ownership of units of token(s) (e.g. balancing units). The tokens and token units may be associated with metadata. Token units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be allocated or added to addresses or accounts associated with the virtual balancing account, such as a distributed ledger. Token units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be transferred from one address or account of the virtual balancing account to a further address or account of the virtual balancing account.

[0092] In an embodiment at least a part of the environmental attributes is / are associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s). At least a part of the environmental attributes may signify the environmental attribute reduction(s). At least a part of the environmental attributes may relate to the environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0093] In an embodiment the input material identifier is associated with a verifiable credential including at least one proof associated with the environmental attribute data. The at least one proof may be associated with the generation of the environmental attribute data. The verifiable credential may further include at least one proof associated with a credential issuer issuing the verifiable credential. The credential issuer BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0094] 16 may be a trusted entity. The credential issuer may review the generation of the environmental attribute data and may issue the verifiable credential if the generation of the environmental attribute data fulfils pre-defined rule(s) and / or rulebook(s) for generating environmental attribute data. By using the verifiable credential, the trust in the environment attribute data may be improved. This way, trust in the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) may be improved, since said reductions are determined based on the environmental attribute data.

[0095] In an embodiment the average environmental attribute data is determined based on environmental attribute data per input material identifier associated with the input material having been delivered to the chemical production. In another embodiment the average environmental attribute data may be determined based on attribute data per input material identifier associated with the input material having been delivered to a predefined region. This way, reliable determination of environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the average environmental attribute data may be determined, avoiding large deviations in the environmental attribute data used to determine the average environmental attribute data. Such large deviations may result in less reliable determination of the environmental attribute reductions.

[0096] In an embodiment the data-driven model trained to classify the provided input material data generates at least one classifier discriminating between input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The classifier may be a binary classifier. The classifier may be linked to the respective input material data. The classifier may include “TRUE” for input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and “FALSE” for input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0097] In an embodiment the environmental attribute reduction(s) are determined based on the input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and average environmental attribute data per input material identifier, per input material type identifier and / or per region identifier. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined for input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material delivered to the production, per input material, per input material type, per region and / or per time period. By determining the environmental attribute reduction(s) based on average environmental attribute data, a more reliable determination of the reduction(s) may be enabled since variations and inconsistencies in the environmental attribute data are smoothed. More reliable determination of the reduction(s) may result in a higher trust of the registration of reduction(s) as balancing units and the selective allocation of such balancing units to chemical products. This way, the trust of chemical product consumers in the reduced environmental impact of the chemical products may be improved, allowing such consumers to more reliably monitor and / or control streams of chemical products based on their environmental impact to the product production operated by such consumers. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0098] 17

[0099] In an embodiment the environmental attribute reduction(s) relate(s) to reduced environmental attribute data with respect to average environmental attribute data associated with the input material. The average environmental attribute data may be associated with the input material identifier, the input material type identifier or the region identifier. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined by comparing the environmental attribute data associated with a given delivery of input material with average environmental attribute data associated with the input material identifier the delivered input material is associated with. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined by comparing the environmental attribute data associated with a given delivery of input material with average environmental attribute data associated with the input material type identifier the delivered input material is associated with. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined by comparing the environmental attribute data associated with a given delivery of input material with average environmental attribute data associated with a region identifier associated with a region the input material is delivered to.

[0100] In an embodiment the environmental attribute reduction(s) relate(s) to a reduction of a carbon footprint, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a reduction of abiotic resource depletion potential, a reduction of photochemical ozone creation potential, a reduction of eutrophication potential, a reduction of acidification potential, a reduction of ozone depletion potential, a reduction of cumulative energy demand, a reduction of water use, a reduction of land use, a reduction of human toxicity potential, a reduction of ecotoxicity potential, a reduction of waste generation, a reduction of ionizing radiation, a reduction of resource depletion, a reduction of end-of-life impact, a reduction of soil degradation, a reduction of noise pollution and / or a reduction of abiotic resource use. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to an emission reduction, such as a carbon footprint reduction. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to a reduction in one or more environmental impact categories. The environmental impact categories may relate to or include one or more impact category / ies used within the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA).

[0101] In an embodiment the data-driven model trained to classify the provided input material data generates at least one classifier discriminating between input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The classifier generated by the data-driven model may be linked to the respective input material data. This way, input material data may be classified into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0102] In an embodiment the environmental attribute reduction(s) are determined per delivery of input material associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s), per input material identifier, per input material type identifier associated with an input material type the delivered input material is associated with or for input materials delivered to the chemical production or a region within a given time period. Environmental attribute reduction(s) determined per input material identifier, per input material type identifier, per chemical production or per region may be determined by summing up the environmental attribute BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0103] 18 reductions per delivery of input material being associated with the input material identifier, the input material type identifier, the chemical production identifier or the region identifier.

[0104] The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each balancing unit is associated with an environmental attribute reduction. The environmental attribute reduction is associated with one of the environmental attributes. The environmental attribute reduction for a given environmental attribute per balancing unit may be determined by dividing the number of balancing units generated based on the determined environmental attribute reduction for the given environmental attribute by the determined environmental attribute reduction for the given environmental attribute. The environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit may be determined per environmental attribute. For instance, balancing units for a carbon footprint reduction may be associated with a different reduction in carbon footprint per balancing unit than balancing units for an abiotic resource depletion potential.

[0105] In an embodiment the balancing unit(s) are associated with a delivery identifier associated with a delivery of the input material, the input material identifier, an input material type identifier associated with an input material type the input material is associated with, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production and / or a region identifier associated with the region the chemical production is located in. This way, the basis used to generate the balancing units may be tracked, improving trust in the balancing unit generation and allowing a more granular allocation of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to chemical products based on target environmental attribute data. For instance, the target environmental attribute data may define a particular scheme for the generation of the balancing units, such as generation based on delivery, input material identifier, input material type identifier, chemical production identifier or region.

[0106] In an embodiment the environmental attribute reduction(s) is / are converted to balancing unit(s) based on a conversion factor associated with the input material data. The conversion factor may include mass, a predefined environmental attribute reduction per environmental attribute and / or predefined conversion factors associated with one or more environmental attribute(s). The predefined conversion factors may be associated with different units used for the environmental attribute(s). The predefined conversion factors may be associated with different units used for a given environmental attribute. At least a part of the environmental attributes may be associated with predefined conversion factors. The conversion factor may allow to convert reductions into balancing units. The conversion factor may allow to harmonize the use of different units per environmental attribute to a predefined unit. The conversion factor may relate to the use of conventional input material(s) (e.g. input materials not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s)) to the use of low attribute input material(s) (e.g. input materials associated with environmental attribute reduction(s)) e.g., via mass. The conversion factor may hence consider the difference between producing chemical products from conventional input material(s) and producing chemical products from non-conventional input material(s) or producing chemical products from a mix of conventional and non-conventional input materials. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0107] 19

[0108] In an embodiment the environmental attribute reduction(s) is / are converted to balancing unit(s) based the input material quantity associated with input material data classified as input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be converted to balancing unit(s) per input material delivery, input material identifier, input material type identifier or per region identifier. Converting environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material identifier, input material type identifier or per region identifier allows to pool balancing units generated based on environmental attribute reductions from several deliveries of input material. Pooling of balancing units allows to reduce the complexity of the virtual accounting system while still allowing to reliable register reductions as balancing units and to selectively allocate balancing units to chemical products.

[0109] In an embodiment the virtual balancing account is associated with metadata identifying the balancing units, environmental attribute reductions per balancing unit and optionally an effort variable per balancing unit. In an embodiment the virtual balancing account further relates to input material delivery identifier, the input material identifier, an input material type identifier and / or a region identifier. The metadata of the virtual balancing account may be matched with metadata of the balancing units to determine the virtual balancing account(s) the generated balancing units are to be allocated to. Owing to the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts, granular allocation of balancing units to respective virtual balancing accounts may be achieved.

[0110] In an embodiment allocation of the determined balancing unit(s) to the virtual balancing account includes

[0111] - providing allocation rules configured to match identifier(s) associated with balancing units to identifier(s) associated with virtual balancing accounts,

[0112] - determining the virtual balancing account by matching at least a part of the identifiers associated with the determined balancing unit(s) to identifier(s) associated with virtual balancing account(s),

[0113] - allocating the determined balancing unit(s) to the determined virtual balancing account.

[0114] The virtual balancing account may be determined based on the highest match with respect to the identifiers. Determining the virtual balancing account may include generating a new virtual balancing account if the balancing unit identifiers do not match or only partially match the virtual balancing account identifiers.

[0115] In an embodiment determining the virtual balancing account(s) and the balancing units includes gathering product composition data associated with the chemical product to be produced and production data associated with the production of the chemical product based on the chemical product identifier. The product composition data may include input material(s) used to produce the product and input material amounts. The production data may include a chemical product quantity to be produced or produced by the chemical production. The product composition data and the production data may be gathered from a local database associated with the chemical production based on the chemical product identifier. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0116] 20

[0117] In an embodiment the balancing units are determined based on the amount of input materials required to be provided for production of the chemical product, average environmental attribute data associated with input materials having been delivered to the chemical production or a region the chemical production is located in and the target environmental attribute data. The balancing units may be determined based on environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the target environmental attribute data. The target environmental attribute data may relate to environmental attribute reduction(s) with respect to the average environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined based on average environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and the average environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product. The average environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product may be determined based on the average environmental attribute data associated with the input materials and the product composition data.

[0118] In an embodiment allocation may include determining the further virtual balancing account based on the data associated with the further virtual balancing account. The data associated with the further virtual balancing account may include an account identifier associated with such further virtual balancing account.

[0119] In an embodiment the virtual balancing account(s) are associated with allocation rule(s) for allocating balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to chemical products produced by the chemical production. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to determine one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical product and / or the balancing units accessible for the chemical product. The allocation rule(s) may be associated with metadata signifying the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical product. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to verify or validate the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for chemical product. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to determine, verify and / or validate the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for chemical product. For determination of the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical product, the allocation rule(s) may be associated with the chemical product. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to determine the input material(s) used to produce the chemical product. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to access a bill of material comprising input material data, chemical product data and process data. From the bill of material, the environmental attribute reduction(s) accessible for the chemical product may be determined. From the environmental attribute reduction(s), the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical product may be determined. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to determine the number of balancing units based on the target environmental attribute data and the bill of material. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to match the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts with the chemical product type corresponding to the chemical product. For determination of the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the at least one chemical product, the allocation BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0120] 21 rule(s) may be associated with the production chain. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to match the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts with the production chain.

[0121] In an embodiment the virtual balancing account(s) are determined based on input materials used to produce the chemical product. The input materials may be determined based on chemical product composition data, e.g. the bill of material. This way, the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) may be allocated to the chemical product in line with the input materials used to produce the chemical production. In another embodiment the virtual balancing account(s) are determined based on the chemical production and / or the location of the chemical production. The chemical production or the location may be determined based on production data associated with the chemical product. The chemical production identifier or the region identifier may be matched to a chemical production identifier or region identifier included in the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts. This way, the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) may be allocated to the chemical product based on the environmental attribute reductions associated with input material streams to the chemical product or based on the environmental attribute reductions associated with input material streams to the region.

[0122] In an embodiment the balancing units are determined based on an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit stored in the determined virtual balancing account(s), the chemical product quantity and the target environmental attribute data. The balancing units may further be determined based on average environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product. This way, the number of balancing units may be determined irrespective of the input materials used to produce the product, allowing a more flexible allocation of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to the chemical products. In another embodiment the balancing units are determined based on the amount(s) of input material(s) used to produce the chemical product, the chemical product quantity, an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit stored in the determined virtual balancing account(s) and the target environmental attribute data. The balancing units may further be determined based on average environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product. This way, it may be ensured that only balancing units associated with input material identifiers of input materials used to produce the chemical product are considered for allocation to the chemical product, avoiding that environmental attribute reductions from input materials not being used to produce the chemical product are allocated to the chemical product. This may ensure that regulations with respect to allocation of environmental attribute reduction(s) are fulfilled.

[0123] In an embodiment linking the determined balancing units to the chemical product identifier includes generating a digital asset including the chemical product identifier and the target environmental attribute data. The digital asset may further include a decentral identifier associated with the target environmental attribute data. The decentral identifier may be at least one UUID or at least one DID. The digital asset and / or the decentral identifier may be linked to a digital representation of the target environmental attribute data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the digital asset. The BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0124] 22 representation for accessing the digital asset may include a pointer or locator pointing to a local database storing the digital asset. The local database may be associated with the chemical product producer. Access to the local database may be controlled by the chemical product producer, for example via the decentral identifier. The digital asset may be provided for access by decentral consumer network node(s) associated with chemical product consumers for access. Access to the digital asset may be controlled via the decentral identifier by the data owner of the digital asset, such as the chemical product producer. Providing the digital asset for access may include providing the digital representation to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for decentral consumer network nodes. This way, the target environmental attribute data may be provided in a secure yet reliable way in association with the physical entity of the chemical product to the chemical product consumer. In another embodiment linking the determined balancing units to the chemical product identifier includes generating and providing transaction data for creating a non-fungible token associated with the chemical product identifier and the target environmental attribute data. The non-fungible token may include the target environmental attribute data. The non-fungible token may include a representation for accessing the target environmental attribute data. The non-fungible token may be transferred to an address or account controlled by the chemical product consumer. This way, the target environmental attribute data may be provided in a secure yet reliable way in association with the physical entity of the chemical product to the chemical product consumer.

[0125] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0126] In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures. The same reference numbers in the drawings and this disclosure are intended to refer to the same or like elements, components, and / or parts. The description of drawings is provided for illustrative purposes and shall not be considered limiting. The embodiments and examples are illustrative embodiments and examples to further line out the concepts lined out herein. The figures include schematic illustrations and shall not be considered limiting. Other embodiments and examples that fall under the concepts lined out herein are possible and may not be explicitly described herein.

[0127] FIG. 1A illustrates an example of connected production sites with multiple input and output material flows.

[0128] FIG. 1 B illustrates another example of connected production sites with multiple input and output material flows.

[0129] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a participant network of a product ecosystem associated with a decentral peer-to-peer network for transfer of data associated with input materials and produced products used within the product ecosystem. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0130] 23

[0131] FIG. 3 illustrates schematically an example of a system for accessing input material data associated with input materials by downstream node(s) associated with downstream participant(s) using the input materials to produce one or more products.

[0132] FIG. 4A illustrates an example of a chemical production producing one or more chemical product(s) from one or more input material(s) in connection with an operating system including an environmental attribute management system for attributing environmental attribute reduction(s) to at least a part of the chemical product(s).

[0133] FIG. 4B illustrates an aspect of the subject matter in accordance with one embodiment.

[0134] FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring the environmental impact of input materials delivered to a chemical production and / or the chemical production using the input materials to produce one or more chemical product(s).

[0135] FIG. 6 illustrates an example data structure including input material data associated with input materials classified as input materials associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0136] FIGs. 7A 7B illustrate examples of a virtual accounting system holding balancing unit(s) associated with environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0137] FIG. 7C illustrates examples of balancing unit(s) and associated metadata.

[0138] FIG. 8 illustrates examples of allocation rules for allocating balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to virtual balancing account(s).

[0139] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the converting environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to a chemical production to balancing units and allocation of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to chemical products produced by the chemical production.

[0140] FIG. 10 illustrate examples of data structures for assigning environmental attribute reduction(s) from virtual balancing accounts to a chemical product produced by a chemical production.

[0141] FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of one or more chemical products produced from one or more input materials by a chemical production.

[0142] FIG. 12 illustrates examples of allocation rule instructions for selecting at least one virtual balancing account. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0143] 24

[0144] FIGs. 13A-13B illustrate schematically examples of a system for providing environmental attribute data linked to a chemical product by upstream node(s) associated with upstream participant(s) to downstream node(s) associated with downstream participant(s) using the chemical product to produce one or more products.

[0145] FIGs. 14A-14B illustrate examples of user interfaces for determining available balancing units and associated effort variables to achieve given target environmental attribute(s) for a given amount of a chemical product and for triggering allocation of such balancing units to a given virtual balancing account.

[0146] FIG. 15 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of one or more chemical products to be produced from one or more input materials by a chemical production.

[0147] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0148] FIG. 1A and FIG. 1 B illustrate different examples of connected production sites with multiple input and output material flows. The production sites may include a chemical production producing a mixture. The mixture may include at least two different compounds, such as chemical compounds. The mixture may be produced by mixing at least two different input material(s), such as two different chemical compounds. Mixing may be achieved using commonly known mixing gear.

[0149] The production sites 102, 110, 116, 126, 130 and 134 illustrated in FIG. 1A may include a chemical production 124 and upstream production sites 102, 110, 116 producing input material delivered to the chemical production. The upstream production sites may produce input material delivered to the chemical production through recycling processes, refinery processes, chemical processes, physical processes and / or other process setups used to produce input material for chemical productions. The input materials may include chemical intermediate products. The input materials may include virgin materials (e.g. material not having undergone a recycling step). The input materials may include recycled input materials (e.g. material having undergone at least one recycling step).

[0150] The chemical production may produce chemical products, such as mixture 136, from multiple input materials 108, 114, 118 delivered to the chemical production. The chemical production may be operated by a chemical producer (see for example FIG. 2). The chemical production may be controlled by an operating system associated with the chemical production (see for example FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B). The chemical production may form part of a discrete product supply chain, wherein the discrete product is produced from the chemical product produced by the chemical production. The chemical production may include one or more production sites 126, 130, 134 which may be connected to form a network with multiple production chains interrelated via their material flow. The chemical production may include intermediate productions 126, 130 producing one or more intermediate chemical products 128, 132. The intermediate products may be used by mixture production 134 to produce the mixture. The mixture may BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0151] 25 be produced by mixing the intermediate products. The intermediate products may be mixed using mixing equipment. Mixing equipment may include agitators, static mixers, high shear mixers, planetary mixers, homogenizers, drum mixers and / or extruders. The intermediate products may be mixed until a homogeneous mixture is achieved. The mixture produced by chemical production may be provided to downstream participants (see for example FIG. 2).

[0152] For production of the input materials 108, 114, 118 to be delivered to the chemical production, the upstream production systems 102, 110, 116 may use input materials 104, 106, 112, 120, 122 and one or more production processes (e.g. production steps). The use of the input materials and the production processes of the upstream production systems are associated with an environmental impact. One non limiting example is greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of the input materials and the production processes of the upstream production systems. As a results, the output products 108, 114, 118 to be delivered as input materials to the chemical production are associated with an environmental impact that stems from the use of the input materials and the production processes of the upstream production systems. Hence, similar input materials, e.g. input materials having a similar chemical composition, produced by different upstream productions may carry different environmental impacts. The use of the input materials 108, 114, 118 by the chemical production effect the environmental impact of such chemical production as well as the chemical products produced by such chemical production.

[0153] Similarly, production of the intermediate products produced by intermediate production of the chemical production effect the environmental impact of the chemical production and the mixtures it produces. To reliably monitor the environmental impact of input materials 108, 114, 118 delivered to the chemical production and to selectively control the environmental impact of chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production, input material data associated with the delivered input materials may be required. The input material data may include an input material identifier, an input material quantity and emission data associated with the input material. The input material identifier may uniquely identify the input material within the upstream production producing the input material. The emission data may include the carbon footprint of the input materials delivered to the chemical production. Based on the input material data of the input materials, balancing units and associated emission reduction(s) may be determined and allocated to virtual balancing account(s) for selective allocation to chemical products to selectively reduce the environmental impact of such chemical products, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5 and FIG. 11 .

[0154] In contrast to FIG. 1 A, the chemical production illustrated in FIG. 1 B is configured to produce the mixture directly from one or more input materials 108, 118 delivered by the upstream productions to the chemical production. Hence, the chemical production does not include any intermediate productions as illustrated in FIG. 1A. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0155] 26

[0156] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a participant network of a product ecosystem associated with a decentral peer-to-peer network for transfer of data associated with input materials and produced products used within the product ecosystem.

[0157] The participant network 226 of the product ecosystem may be associated with a decentral peer-to-peer network 230 for exchange of data associated with raw material(s), chemical intermediate product(s), chemical product(s), discrete product(s), end product(s) and / or recycled material(s). The participant network may include one or more network participants 204 to 212 associated with decentral participant nodes 214 to 224. The network participants may be part of an industry or may be part of different industries. The network participants may be part of a product ecosystem including chemical products. The product ecosystem may include production chains to produce one or more end-product(s). The product ecosystem may include recycling chains to recycle at least part of an end-of-life product resulting from the use of the end product(s). The product ecosystem may include production chains and recycling chains.

[0158] The product ecosystem may include an input material supplier 202 (e.g. a raw material producer), a chemical product producer 204, an end-product producer 206 (e.g. an OEM), an end-product user 208, an EOL product collector 210 and a recycler 212. The product ecosystem illustrated in FIG. 2 is a mere example and may include more or less network participants. For example, the product ecosystem may include a chain of chemical product producers instead of only one chemical product producer 204, for example as illustrated in FIG. 1A. The participant network may include a chemical supply chain. The product ecosystem may allow to use materials resulting from recycling of end-of-life products to produce new products, such as chemical products. The product ecosystem may be associated with the production and / or recycling of physical products. The product may be a chemical product, an intermediate chemical product, a component, a component assembly, an end product, an end-of-life product or a recycled material.

[0159] The partici pant(s) of the participant network may be associated with the production of products and / or the recycling of products. The decentral network participant 204 to 212 may refer to a manufacturer of physical products, such as input material supplier 202, chemical product producer 204, end-product producer 206, a user of physical goods, such as end-product user 208, and / or a participant of a recycling chain associated with the physical product, such as EOL product collector 210 and recycler 212. The network participant may be associated with a participant node 214 to 224 and a decentral participant identifier associated with the respective participant node(s). The decentral participant identifier may uniquely identify the decentral network participant and its associated decentral participant node within the decentral peer-to-peer network 230.

[0160] The partici pant(s) of the participant network may be connected via material flows. The material flow may be a loop material flow 232. The loop material flow 232 may be a closed loop material flow. A closed loop BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0161] 27 material flow may refer to a material loop where recycled material is used to produce the same end products the recycled material is obtained from via recycling. The loop material flow 232 may be an open loop material flow. An open loop material flow may refer to a material loop where recycled material is used to produce different end products than the one the recycled material is obtained from. The material flow may be a linear material flow (e.g. not including recycling). The material flow may correspond to the flow of product from one participant of the participant network to the downstream participant of the participant network. The material flow may refer to a continuous or a discontinuous flow of product. The flow of product may include any means of transportation suitable to transport the product from a participant to the downstream participant. The means of transportation may include pipes, containers, barrels, packages. The material flow may be associated with raw materials used to produce the chemical product, such as virgin raw materials 108. The raw materials may be provided to chemical product producer 204 for producing chemical product(s) 234. The loop material flow may be associated with the chemical product(s). The chemical product(s) may be provided from chemical product producer 204 to OEM 206 for producing end products. The end-products may be discrete products. In contrast to chemical production, the discrete products being produced are distinct units sold as individual products. The material flow may be associated with recycled material 236. The recycled material may be provided from recycler 212 to chemical product producer 204 to produce chemical product(s).

[0162] At least part of the participants of the participant network may be associated with decentral participant network nodes 214 to 224. The decentral participant nodes 214 to 224 may be under control of the respective decentral participant associated with the respective decentral participant node 214 to 224. The decentral participant nodes 214 to 224 may form decentral network 230. The decentral network may be a peer-to-peer communication network. The decentral peer-to-peer network may be configured to perform data transactions 228 according to at least one network protocol. The data transactions may be based on at least one transaction protocol including authentication and / or authorization mechanism(s). Based on the authentication and / or authorization mechanism(s) a peer-to-peer communication between decentral network nodes associated with network participants may be established. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) may be associated with or linked to a decentral identifier as described in the context of FIG. 3 and FIG. 13A. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier may be accessible by the decentral participant nodes as described in the context of FIG. 3 and FIG. 13A. The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by the data owners of the decentral network by allowing for data sovereignty.

[0163] Data transactions between decentral network participant nodes may be based on the decentral identifier associated with respective input material data or product data to be accessed, for example as described in the context of FIG. 3 and FIG. 13A. The decentral identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the input material and associated input material data. The decentral identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the product and associated product data. The decentral identifier may uniquely identify the respective input material or product within the decentral network. The BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0164] 28 decentral identifier may be associated with further decentral identifier(s), such as decentral identifier(s) of input material(s) used to produce the product. This may allow to track the input material(s) used to produce a product, such as an end-product.

[0165] The data flow (e.g. transactions, depicted by dashed lines) between decentral network participant nodes may be directly or indirectly associated with the material flow (depicted by bold solid lines) between the network participants. For instance, the data flow may be directly associated with material flow if data associated with an input material provided from the input material supplier 202 to the chemical product producer 204 is accessed by decentral participant node 216 associated with said chemical product producer 204. For instance, the data flow may be indirectly associated with material flow if data associated with a chemical product produced by chemical product producer 204 is accessed by decentral participant node 224 associated with recycler 212.

[0166] The decentral participant nodes may be decentral computing nodes. The decentral computing node may be any device or system that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that are executed by a processor. The memory may take any form of volatile or non-volatile storages and may depend on the nature and form of the computing node.

[0167] At least part of the decentral participant nodes may be configured as decentral data providing network nodes. At least part of the participant nodes may be configured as decentral data consuming network nodes. A participant of the decentral network may be associated with a decentral data providing network node and / or a decentral data consuming network node depending on whether data is provided to downstream participants and / or consumed from upstream participants. For instance, input material supplier 202 may be associated with a decentral data providing network node configured to provide product data to a downstream participant (e.g. chemical product producer 204) for example as described in the context of FIG. 3. In addition to or alternatively, input material supplier 202 may be associated with a decentral data consuming network node configured to access data associated with input material produced by an upstream participant (e.g. not shown in FIG. 2).

[0168] The decentral network may include further decentral network nodes (not shown in FIG. 2). The further decentral network nodes may not be associated with or operated by a participant 204 to 212 of the product ecosystem. The further decentral network nodes may provide services for network participants 204 to 212. The further decentral network nodes may be decentral infrastructure service nodes. The decentral infrastructure service nodes may provide services for decentral participant nodes 214 to 224, such as verifying the identity of the decentral network participant nodes 214 to 224 prior to performing a data exchange. The decentral network participant nodes 214 to 224 may be associated with or include certificate(s), such as X.509 certificate(s). The certificate(s) may be associated with decentral infrastructure service node(s) including e.g. a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0169] 29 service providing dynamic attribute tokens (e.g. OAuth Access Tokens). This way the decentral network participant nodes 214 to 224 may be associated with a unique identifier embedded in a X.509 certificate that identifies the respective decentral network participant node 214 to 224. The information required to verify the certificate may be provided via an authentication registry associated with the certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For instance, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, Version 3.0 of April 2019, a decentral data providing network node associated with a data owner, a Certification Authority (CA), a Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Service (DAPS) and a decentral data consuming network node associated with a data consumer may be used to verify the identity prior to performing a data exchange (not shown).

[0170] FIG. 3 illustrates schematically an example of a system for accessing input material data associated with input materials by downstream node(s) associated with downstream participant(s) using the input materials to produce one or more products. The system shown in FIG. 3 may be used to exchange input material data associated with input materials delivered to chemical product producers to produce chemical products within a participant network, such as the participant network described in the context of FIG. 2. The input materials may be delivered to a chemical production producing the chemical products. The production may be a chemical production as illustrated in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1 B. The chemical production may be operated by chemical product producer 204. The chemical production may be associated with an operating system controlling the production of output products from the supplied input materials, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The input materials may be produced by one or more upstream productions, for example as illustrated in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1 B. The input materials may be delivered from input material supplier 202 to the chemical production 124.

[0171] For exchanging input material data within the participant network illustrated for example in FIG. 2, digital twins associated with the input material 108 may be generated. The digital twin may be a digital representation of a physical entity of the input material with defined semantic description(s) of said physical entity of the input material. The digital twin may be uniquely linked to the physical input material via an identifier. The digital twin of the input material may include a decentral identifier and input material data. The decentral identifier may comprise any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and the input material. The input material data may include environmental attribute data, such as emission data, associated with the input material. The input material data may further include input material identifier(s), input material producer data, input material declaration data, input material safety data, production data associated with the input material, certificate of analysis data associated with the input material, input material environmental attribute data, input material recycled content data, input material renewable content data, input material biobased content data, certificate data associated with the input material, life cycle data associated with the input material, storage instruction data associated with the input material, processing conditions associated with the input material or a combination thereof. The input material data may contain one or more input material data set(s) (also denoted as assets hereinafter). BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0172] 30

[0173] The digital twin may be generated by the data owner of the input material data, such as input material supplier 202. The digital twin may be generated on behalf of the data owner of the input material data. The digital twin may be generated by gathering data associated with the input material, applying one or more data models to the gathered data to generate the input material data and linking the generated input material data to the decentral identifier to generate the digital twin. The digital twin may be stored in a dedicated storage (input material data DB 302) associated with a network node of the decentral network 230. The digital twin may be stored in the database associated with the data owner, such as input material supplier 202, for access by the data consumer, such as chemical product producer 204. The network node may be a data providing node, such as node 214. The network node may be associated with or controlled by the data owner of the digital twin, such as input material supplier 202. The dedicated storage may be associated with the data owner of the digital twin. The dedicated storage may be accessible by the data owner of the digital twin. Access to the dedicated storage may be controlled by the data owner of the digital twin, for example via the decentral identifier. This way, the input material data may be shared within the decentral network 230 under control of the data owner of the input material data with one or more data consumer(s), such as input material consumers (e.g. chemical product producers 204).

[0174] The decentral identifier may include one or more Universally Unique Identifier(s) (UUID(s)) and / or Digital Identifier(s) (DID(s)). The decentral identifier may be issued by a central or decentral identity issuer. The decentral identifier may include authentication information. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the digital twin (and hence with the input material and input material data) and optionally the data owner, access to the digital twin or parts thereof may be controlled by the data owner. This contrasts with central authority schemes, where identifiers are provided by such central authority and access to data is controlled by such central authority. The decentral identifier may be linked to other decentral identifier(s) according to a physical relation of the input material entity with other physical entities e.g. those used to produce the input material or those produced from the input material. This way decentral participant node(s) of the decentral network may be able to interpret the relation of the decentral identifier corresponding to the physical relation of the physical input material entity to other physical entities. The linking of the decentral identifier with other decentral product identifier(s) allows to gather data associated with products produced using the input material or materials used to produce the input material via the decentral network 230. The decentral identifier may be a digital or virtual identifier(s), e.g. may not correspond to physical identifier(s) physically attached to the input material. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for other participant nodes of the decentral network.

[0175] The decentral input material identifier may be assigned to a physical identifier connected to the input material 108. The connection of the physical identifier with the input material 108 may be provided by means of physical connection to the physical input material 108 or physical entity. For instance, the physical identifier may be connected with the physical entity of the input material 108. The physical identifier may have one-to-one correspondence to a virtual identity or to a physical identity by means of a physical connection to the physical entity. The physical identifier may be physically attached to the BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0176] 31 input material 108 via an identifier element. Physical identifier or physical identifier element may refer to any virtual or physical arrangement that associates the decentral identifier with the input material 108. The physical identifier may be any identifier for the produced input material 108, such as a batch number or a part number. The physical identifier element may comprise a passive or active element, e.g. QR- code, RFID-tag, but is not limited thereto. The physical identifier element may be a physical identifier physically connected to the input material. The identifier element may include markers embedded in the input material, a bar code, a QR-Code, a tag like a RFID tag or similar physical arrangement that allows to digitally identify the input material.

[0177] The decentral identifier may be associated with a digital representation of the digital twin or parts thereof. The digital representation may include the decentral identifier and a representation for accessing the digital twin or parts thereof. The representation may point to the database storing the digital twin or parts thereof. The representation may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service Endpoint), that is uniquely identified via a communication protocol. The representation may be regarded as locator directly or indirectly indicating the location or database(s) where the digital twin is stored. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network. Providing the digital representation to the decentral network may include storing the digital representation in a decentral registry, such as decentral registry 304, accessible by participant nodes of the decentral network. Access to the decentral registry may be controlled by the data owner of the digital twins associated with such digital representations. Access to the decentral registry may be controlled via decentral data providing network node 214. Access to the decentral registry may be controlled based on decentral participant identifiers associated with participant nodes requesting access to such decentral registry. This way, participant node(s) requesting access to the decentral registry may be filtered.

[0178] The physical entity of the input material as produced by the input material supplier may be physically delivered to the chemical production associated with the chemical product producer 204. The input material may be delivered in association with the digital twin or a part thereof to the chemical production. The chemical production may produce chemical product(s) using the input material, for example as described in the context of FIG. 1A, FIG. 1 B, FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. Chemical products may include mixtures 136. The input material may be connected to a code, such as a bar code or QR-code. The code may encode the input material identifier. The input material identifier may uniquely identify the input material within the input material production (e.g. the upstream production with respect to the chemical product production). Upon delivery of the input material, the code may be read through code reader 312. The code reader 312 may be a smartphone running a code reading application, such as a QR code reader app. The code reading application may be configured to determine the input material identifier. The code reading application may be configured to provide data, such as the input material identifier, to backend BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0179] 32

[0180] Backend 306 may be in a client-server relationship with code reader 312, where code reader 312 functions as client and backend 306 functions as server. Backend 306 may be configured to provide data to code reader 312, such as gathered input material data. Code reader 312 may be configured to display such data, for example within a graphical user interface. Backend 306 may be configured to determine endpoint(s) of provider node(s) providing input material data based on the input material identifier via infrastructure node(s) 310. Backend 306 may be configured to trigger determination of decentral identifier(s) associated with the input material identifier(s) (see step [1]). Backend 306 may be configured to trigger gathering of input material data based on the decentral identifier (see steps [6] to [9]).

[0181] Backend 306 may be connected to a decentral data consuming network node being part of a decentral network 230, such as node 216. Node 216 may be associated with the chemical production. Node 216 may be associated with the entity operating the chemical production, such as chemical product producer 204. Node 216 may be configured to query decentral registries, such as decentral registry 304, for decentral identifier(s) associated with the input material identifier by sending a respective query to determined provider node(s), such as node 214 (see steps [2] to [5]). The query may include the input material identifier(s) and the decentral participant identifier associated with node 214. The query may be authenticated and / or authorized. Such authentication may be based on data related to an authentication mechanism. The authentication mechanism may be based on certificate(s) and / or token(s), for example a device certificate (X.509v3), a TLS connection certificate (X.509v3) and a ‘Dynamic Attribute Token’ (OAuth Access Token), associated with the respective decentral participant nodes, e.g. consumer node 216 and provider node 214. Such authorization may be based on data related to an authorization mechanism. The authorization mechanism may be based on decentral participant identifier(s) associated with the respective nodes, such as node 216. If authentication and / or authorization fails, no decentral identifier(s) may be provided by respective provider node(s).

[0182] Node 216 may be configured to request access to the input material data based on the decentral identifier associated with the input material data or a part thereof (e.g. an input material data set) (see step [6]). The request may be authenticated and / or authorized as previously described. The request may include the decentral identifier and the decentral participant identifier associated with node 216. The request may be sent by node 216 to the respective provider node 214.

[0183] Provider node 214 may determine whether consumer node 216 is authorized to access the requested input material data based on the decentral identifier and the decentral participant identifier included in the received request. Provider node 214 may filter consumer nodes requesting access to such input material data based on the decentral participant identifiers or verifiable credentials associated with such consumer nodes, hence improving security to ensure that no unauthorized consumer nodes can access the input material data. Provider node 214 may gather the requested input material data from input material data DB 302 based on the decentral identifier received from node 216 (see steps [7], [8]). Provider node 214 may provide the gathered input material data to node 216 (see step [9]). Provider node BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0184] 33

[0185] 214 may apply authorization rule(s) associated with the decentral identifier to the gathered input material data prior to providing such data to node 216. Node 216 may provide the received input material data to backend 306. Backend 306 may be configured to store such data in storage 308 (see steps

[0010] ,

[0011] ).

[0186] Through the decentral identifier, the input material data can be uniquely associated with the input material. Through the decentral network, the input material data may be transferred between an input material producer and an input material consumer in a standardized and secure way, allowing the input material producer to control access to the input material data by multiple decentral data consuming network nodes existing within the decentral network via the decentral identifier. This way, the input material data can be shared with unique association to the input material and without central intermediary directly between the participants of the product ecosystem in a secure and reliable manner.

[0187] FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B illustrate examples of a chemical production producing one or more chemical product(s) from one or more input material(s) in connection with an operating system including an environmental attribute management system for attributing environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production to at least a part of the chemical product(s).

[0188] Operating system 404 may be a digital operating system configured to collect, store, manage and interpret a wide range of production and / or business data for chemical production 124. The operating system may be part of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Alternatively, the operating system may be partly implemented in an ERP system and partly implemented in one or more additional systems which may be communicatively coupled with the ERP system. The operating system may also be implemented in one or more systems outside of the ERP system. In the illustrated embodiment, different input materials 412-416 are delivered to the feed-in-point 408 of the chemical production. The input materials may include input materials not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) 412 (e.g. conventional input materials) and input material(s) associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) 414, 416 (e.g. low environmental impact input materials). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be related to a lower environmental impact, such as a lower carbon footprint, of the input material 414, 416 with respect to the conventional input material. The environmental attribute data of the low environmental impact input material associated with a given input material identifier may be significantly lower than the average environmental attribute data associated with multiple deliveries of input material associated with such input material identifier. Environmental attribute data being significantly lower than average environmental attribute data may include environmental attribute data being lower than a predefined threshold value. The predefined threshold value may be lower than the average environmental attribute data. Environmental attribute data being significantly lower than average environmental attribute data may include environmental attribute data being equal to a threshold value having a predefined distance to the average environmental attribute data or being lower than a threshold value having a predefined distance to the average environmental attribute data. Hence, a given input BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0189] 34 material produced by different input material producers may be associated with different environmental impact per environmental attribute, such as different carbon footprints. Therefore, an input material produced by a first input material producer may be associated with an environmental attribute reduction, such as a reduced carbon footprint, while the same input material produced by a second input material producer may not be associated with an environmental attribute reduction.

[0190] The low environmental impact input materials 414, 416 may be used as an at least partial like-for-like replacement of the conventional input material. For example, the conventional input material may be solvents and / or pigments associated with a higher carbon footprints than the low environmental impact input material. The respective corresponding (i.e., like-for-like) low environmental impact input material may be solvents and / or pigments with the same chemical composition as the conventional input material but being associated with a lower product carbon footprint. The product carbon footprint of the low environmental impact input materials may be significantly lower than the average product carbon footprint of the conventional input material.

[0191] After the input materials 412 to 416 are delivered to the chemical production, the conventional input materials 412, the low environmental impact input materials 414, 416, and / or energy input may be used in one or more chemical production processes of chemical production to produce one or more chemical product(s).

[0192] Input material data for the conventional input material 412 may be provided to the operating system at 418. Similarly, input material data for low environmental impact input material 414, 416 may be provided to the operating system at 420. The input material data may be electronically provided to the operating system when the respective input material is delivered to chemical production. The operating system may receive the input material data through an interface to a local or a remote database or an ERP system storing the input material data. The operating system may receive the input material data through an interface to a decentral network 230. The operating system may be associated with or communicatively coupled to a decentral consuming node, such as node 216 configured to gather input material data via the decentral network from decentral provider node(s) associated with input material producers, for example as described in the context of FIG. 3.

[0193] Providing the input material data may include performing data processing operation(s) on the gathered input material data. Data processing operations may include filtering, aggregating joining, merging and / or converting. This way, input material data gathered from different sources may be converted into a single format to allow further processing of the input material data, for example by environmental attribute management system 424.

[0194] The operating system 404 may include environmental attribute management system 424. The operating system may be associated with the environmental attribute management system (not shown in FIG. 4A). The operating system 404 may classify the provided input material data into input material data BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0195] 35 associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The operating system may determine environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the classification and may convert such reduction(s) to balancing unit(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The balancing units may be a digital representation of environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the delivered low environmental impact input materials 414 and 416. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be based on environmental attribute data associated with determined environmental attribute reduction(s), e.g. environmental attribute data associated with the low environmental impact input materials 414 and 416, and environmental attribute data associated with conventional input material 412. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be based on the difference between environmental attribute data associated with the low environmental impact input material and environmental attribute data associated with the conventional input material per input material identifier. The digital representation may include or relate to the quantity of input materials 414 and 416 delivered, the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit, such as the product carbon footprint reduction, greenhouse gas emission reduction, abiotic resource depletion potential reduction, photochemical ozone creation potential reduction, eutrophication potential reduction, acidification potential reduction, ozone depletion potential reduction, cumulative energy demand reduction, water use reduction, land use reduction, human toxicity potential reduction, ecotoxicity potential reduction, waste generation reduction, ionizing radiation reduction, resource depletion reduction, end-of-life impact reduction, soil degradation reduction, noise pollution reduction or abiotic resource use reduction, per balancing unit, an effort variable associated with the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit, the input material delivery, the input material identifier, the input material type and / or the region of delivery of the input material, such as Europe, Asia, America or the like. The effort variable may relate to the production effort such as changes in the production process, costs of production inputs such as input materials associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), availability of production inputs such as input materials associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), costs for production supplies or utilities such as energy, availability of production supplies or utilities such as energy or any combinations thereof. The environmental attribute management system may be configured to allocate the determined balancing units to virtual balancing account(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. Allocating may include crediting or adding the balancing units to the virtual balancing account. This way, the account balancing of the virtual balancing account may be increased by the amount of the added or credited balancing units. The virtual balancing accounts may be part of environmental attribute management system 424. The virtual balancing account may allow to track environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production via the related balancing units. The balancing units may be selectively allocated to chemical products to reduce their environmental impact, such as the carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emission, abiotic resource depletion potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, cumulative energy demand, water use, land use, human toxicity potential, ecotoxicity potential, waste generation, ionizing radiation, resource BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0196] 36 depletion, end-of-life impact, soil degradation, noise pollution and / or abiotic resource use, as described later on.

[0197] The input materials 412 to 416 may be used in a chemical production process that produces one or more chemical products. The chemical products may be provided at the feed-out-point 410 of the chemical production. The operating system may include a merger system 428 configured to create chemical products associated with reduced environmental impact by selectively allocating balancing unit(s) stored in virtual balancing accounts of environmental attribute management system 424 to chemical product identifier(s) of such chemical product(s). The operating system may process an order for a chemical product received from a chemical product consumer or may generate production instructions for producing the chemical product. If a conventional chemical product 430-434 is to be produced or delivered to the consumer, the operating system may process the order or may generate the production instruction(s) using database 426 storing chemical product data associated with chemical products producible or produced by the chemical production.

[0198] If, however, a chemical product associated with reduced environmental impact, such as reduced carbon footprint, reduced greenhouse gas emission, reduced abiotic resource depletion potential, reduced photochemical ozone creation potential, reduced eutrophication potential, reduced ozone depletion potential, reduced cumulative energy demand, reduced water use, reduced land use, reduced human toxicity potential, reduced ecotoxicity potential, reduced waste generation, reduced ionizing radiation, reduced resource depletion, reduced end-of-life impact, reduced soil degradation, reduced noise pollution and / or reduced abiotic resource use, is to be provided or produced, the operating system may direct merger system 428 to combine balancing units stored in virtual balancing account(s) of environmental attribute management system 424 with product data stored in database 426. Merger system 428 may allocate balancing unit(s) stored in the virtual balancing account(s) to the chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product, for example as described in the context of FIG. 9 to FIG. 12. This way, the environmental attribute reduction(s) may be separated from the physical flow of input materials within the chemical production and may be flexibly and selectively allocated to chemical product(s) produced or producible by the chemical production according to target environmental attribute data, such as target environmental attribute defined by chemical product consumer(s) based on the needs of the chemical product consumer(s) with respect to the environmental impact of chemical product(s) used by such consumers as input material(s) to produce further product(s). The merger system may generate a digital asset including a chemical product identifier and the target environmental attribute data. The chemical product identifier may include a decentral identifier. The operating system 404 may be configured to link the chemical product identifier to a physical identifier physically connected to the chemical product. The digital asset may be stored in a local database associated with the operating system. The digital asset may be provided under control of the chemical product producer via decentral network 230 to one or more data consumer(s), such as chemical product consumer(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 13A. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0199] 37

[0200] By separating the environmental attribute reduction(s) from the physical flow of input materials delivered to the chemical production and used within the chemical production and by allocating such environmental attribute reduction(s) via balancing unit(s) to virtual balancing account(s), flexible and selective allocation of the environmental attribute reduction(s) to chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production may be enabled. This may avoid equal distribution of environmental attribute reduction(s) to multiple chemical products, resulting in only minor overall reduction of the environmental impact of such chemical products. Instead, the flexible and selective allocation avoids equal distribution and allows to allocate the environmental attribute reduction(s) to defined chemical products, hence allowing to significantly reduce the environmental impact of such chemical products compared to equal distribution of the environmental attribute reduction(s). This way, the environmental impact of the chemical product may be selectively adjusted according to the needs of chemical product consumers using the chemical product to produce one or more further products, such as discrete products.

[0201] In contrast to FIG. 4A, the environmental attribute management system 424 illustrated in FIG. 4B is associated with or communicatively coupled to a distributed ledger network 440. The environmental attribute management system may be included in the operating system or may be associated with the operating system. Balancing of the environmental attribute reduction(s) in the form of token unit(s) may be performed on such distributed ledger network 440. The distributed ledger network may be a peer-to- peer network with a plurality of nodes. Each node may comprise a peer-to-peer application in the form of a decentralized ledger. Each node may comprise the same peer-to-peer application. The decentralized ledger may be configured to store data, e.g. tokens and associated units, transfers of token units, creation of tokens and associated units, burning of token units, etc., with certain proofs or signatures. The decentralized ledger may further be configured to store computer code in the form of executable means. In particular, an executable means can be invoked by a transaction to the (unique) communication address of the executable means in so called ‘smart contracts’. This executable means may be processed on the plurality of node(s) of the peer-to-peer network. That executable means (e.g. smart contracts) or processing logic may be stored and executed in so called ‘crypto conditions’ of the Interledger protocol (ILP) such that not necessarily all code of an executable means needs be stored in a smart contract such as Ethereum smart contract. Alternatively, the executable means (smart contract) may be stored and executed on a decentral computation market (e.g. Ethereum Computation Market, Trubit, Golem, Cryplets Microsoft).

[0202] Environmental attribute management system 424 may be configured to determine token units based on classified input material data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0203] Environmental attribute management system 424 may generate transaction data 438 and provide the generated transaction data to a node of the distributed ledger network. The distributed ledger network may be a permissioned distributed ledger network, such as a permissioned blockchain. Hence, access to the distributed ledger network may be controlled by the organization operating the distributed ledger BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0204] 38 network. This may avoid that transactions associated with token generation, token unit generation or token unit transfers are visible by unauthorized participants of the distributed ledger network, such as downstream participants of the product ecosystem the chemical product is associated with, hence avoiding that upstream and / or downstream of the product ecosystem gain insights on production processes performed within the chemical production. The transaction data may be generated based on the determined token units. The transaction data may include a new token object that defines the determined units of the respective token, the input material identifier, input material type identifier or region identifier, an address associated with the operating system or the chemical production and token control function(s) defining one or more functions of the respective token, such as minting functions, burning functions, transfer functions, approve functions and / or balancing functions. The new token object may be generated based on existing token templates. Such transaction data may be generated if a token for the input material, input material type or region has not yet been created. The transaction data may include an address associated with executable code configured to generate new token units, the determined number of token units and an address associated with the operating system or the chemical production. Such transaction data may be generated to create further token units using a smart contract. The transaction data may include a first address holding the determined token units, a second address being associated with the operating system or the chemical production and the token units to be transferred from the first to the second address. Such transaction data may be generated if the determined token units are already existing within an address associated with the operating system or the chemical production, e.g. have been previously minted. The transaction data may be signed with a private key associated with the operating system, the chemical production or the chemical product producer. The transaction data may be generated by a decentralized app running on environmental attribute management system 424. Environmental attribute management system 424 may provide the transaction data to a node of the decentralized ledger network.

[0205] One or more nodes of the decentralized ledger network may validate the received transaction data and may append a new block to the existing blockchain including said transaction data. Validation may include checking the signature of the transaction data. Validation may result in creating token units 442 at an address of an account 444 of the distributed ledger network associated with operating system, the chemical production or the chemical product producer. Validation may result in a transfer of token units from the first an address of the distributed ledger network to the address associated with the account 444.

[0206] The address associated with account 444 may be considered as a virtual balancing account. The address may hold credits in the form of token units associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), such as carbon footprint reduction(s), greenhouse gas emission reduction(s), abiotic resource depletion potential reduction(s), photochemical ozone creation potential reduction(s), eutrophication potential reduction(s), ozone depletion potential reduction(s), cumulative energy demand reduction(s), water use reduction(s), land use reduction(s), human toxicity potential reduction(s), ecotoxicity potential reduction(s), waste BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0207] 39 generation reduction(s), ionizing radiation reduction(s), resource depletion reduction(s), end-of-life impact reduction(s), soil degradation reduction(s), noise pollution reduction(s) and / or abiotic resource use reduction(s). Since token units may be associated with metadata indicating the input material, the input material type, the delivery of the input material, the region the input material was delivered or the like, token units may be differentiated from each other via their metadata. Hence, token units associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with different environmental attribute(s) and / or associated with the delivery of different input materials may be stored in the same address, thus reducing the need of different addresses for token units associated with different input materials and hence reducing the complexity of the virtual balancing system.

[0208] If a chemical product associated with reduced environmental impact is to be provided or produced, the operating system may provide the chemical product identifier and the target environmental attribute data to merger system 428. The merger system may determine, based on the provided target environmental attribute data, the number of token units, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 . The merger system may further determine - based on the chemical product identifier - the address(es) accessible for allocation of the token units, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 . The merger system may check the balance(s) of the determined address(es), for example as described in the context of FIG. 11.

[0209] If at least one balance is not sufficient, the merger system may reject the request for allocation. If the balance(s) are sufficient, the merger system may generate transaction data associated with the determined units. The transaction data may include one or more transaction data set(s). One transaction data set may include a new token object that defines the determined token units and optionally the associated token, the target environmental attribute data, the provided chemical product identifier, an address associated with the operating system and token control function(s) defining one or more functions of the respective token, such as minting functions, burning functions, transfer functions, approve functions and / or balancing functions. The new token object may be generated based on existing token templates. Another transaction data set may include the number of determined tokens and an address not being associated with a private key. This way, the determined number of tokens may be burned, e.g. may no longer be available for allocation to chemical products. This may ensure that double accounting is avoided. The transaction data may be signed with a private key associated with the operating system or the chemical production. The transaction data may be generated by a decentralized app running on the merger system. The merger system may be a peer-to-peer module comprising an API configured to provide an interface to a peer-to-peer node of a decentralized ledger network (see FIG. 13B). The merger system may be a peer-to-peer node comprising a peer-to-peer application. The peer-to-peer application may be configured to mint token(s). The peer-to-peer application may be configured to transfer token(s) between participants of the decentralized ledger network. The merger system may provide the transaction data to decentralized ledger network. One or more nodes of the decentralized ledger network may validate the received transaction data and may append a new block to the existing blockchain including BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0210] 40 said transaction data. Validation may include checking the signature of the transaction data. Validation may result in minting of one or more non-fungible tokens at the address specified in the transaction data.

[0211] The transaction data may include the determined token units, the target environmental attribute data, the provided chemical product identifier and an address associated with a third party. At least part of the transaction data, such as the determined units of each token and the address associated with the third party may be provided to the distributed ledger network. Further parts of the transaction data may be provided to the third party generating the one or more token(s) on behalf of the entity operating the chemical production. For example, the further parts may include the chemical product identifier. Based on the received units of token(s) as well as the further parts of the transaction data, the third party may create transaction data to generate the one or more non-fungible tokens. The non-fungible token(s) may be minted at an address of the third party and may be transferred from said address to address associated with the operating system or the chemical production. The one or more non-fungible token(s) may be created directly at the address associated with the operating system or the chemical production.

[0212] The one or more non-fungible tokens may be uniquely associated with the chemical product via the chemical product identifier as illustrated in FIG. 13B. The one or more non-fungible tokens may be provided as digital assets in association with the chemical product to a chemical product consumer as described in the context of FIG. 13B.

[0213] FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring the environmental impact of an input material delivered to a chemical production for producing one or more chemical product(s) and / or the chemical production using the input material to produce one or more chemical product(s). The input material may be delivered to the chemical production in at least two deliveries. The input material may be delivered to the chemical production in more than two deliveries. The input material may be delivered to the chemical production from input material productions operated by different input material producers and / or from input material productions operated by the same input material producer but being located in different regions. The chemical production 124 may produce one or more chemical products from different input materials, for example as described in the context of FIG. 1 A and FIG. 1 B.

[0214] The input material may include raw materials, recycled materials or chemical intermediate products. The chemical product may include inorganic chemical products and organic chemical products. Inorganic chemical product(s) may be devoid of carbon atoms and / or carbon-hydrogen bond(s) while organic chemical product(s) include at least one carbon atom and / or at least one carbon-hydrogen bond. The chemical product may include chemical products produced by chemical reactions and / or physical processes. Physical processes may involve the use of chemical materials as input materials. The chemical product(s) may include mixtures produced from at least two input materials. The mixture may include any chemical product produced from at least two different input materials. The input materials may include solids, liquids and / or gases. The mixture may include a physical combination of at least two BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0215] 41 different chemical input materials in which the chemical identities of the input materials are retained, e.g. which can be separated by can be separated by physical methods. Mixtures may include solutions, suspensions and colloids. The mixtures may be homogeneous or a heterogeneous mixture. Homogeneous mixtures may exhibit uniform composition and all components of the mixture are present in the same phase, whereas components of heterogeneous mixtures can be easily identified. Mixtures may be produced or producible by mechanical blending of the input materials. Mechanical blending processes may include physical agitation, such as stirring, shaking, or milling, dissolving solutes in solvents to form solutions, emulsification, dispersion, extrusion or the like. The mixtures may include coating material(s) for coating at least a part of a surface of an object, chemical products for activation of metal surfaces, corrosion protection products, cleaning agents, conversion coating materials, insulating coating materials, cutting fluids, cooling fluids, release agents, lubricants, coagulating agents and / or sealants. The chemical product may include substrates comprising a structured coating layer. The structured coating layer may comprise micro- and / or nanoscale structures. The structure coating layer may be prepared from a coating material.

[0216] The method illustrated in FIG. 5 may be implemented by an operating system of the chemical production, such as operating system 404 described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The method may be implemented by a digital system associated with the operating system. The method may be implemented by a digital system associated with a plurality of different chemical productions. The digital system may be associated with a plurality of different chemical productions located in one or more country / ies and / or region(s).

[0217] Input material data associated with the input material per delivery of the input material to the chemical production may be provided. The input material data may be provided per input material delivery to the operation system. The input material data may be provided to the operating system or the digital system via a communication interface from one or more databases storing the input material data. The input material data may be provided via a user interface to the operating system. The input material data may be provided to the operating system as described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The input material data may be gathered via decentral network 230 based on the decentral identifiers associated with the input materials by decentral consuming node(s) associated with the operating system from the input material producer, for example as described in the context of FIG. 3. The operating system or the digital system may be configured to transform the received input material data. The operating system or the digital system may be configured to assign an input material consumer identifier to the received input material data.

[0218] The provided input material data per input material delivery may include an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, an input material quantity provided to the chemical production per delivered input material, and environmental attribute data associated with the delivered BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0219] 42 input material. The input material identifier may be an input material consumer identifier uniquely identifying the delivered input material within the chemical production.

[0220] The environmental attribute data may comprise any data related to an environmental impact of the input material. The environmental attribute data may include emission data, abiotic resource depletion potential data, global warming potential data, photochemical ozone creation potential data, eutrophication potential data, acidification potential data, ozone depletion potential data, cumulative energy demand data, water use data, land use data, human toxicity potential data, ecotoxicity potential data, waste generation data, ionizing radiation data, resource depletion data, end-of-life impact data, soil degradation data, noise pollution data, abiotic resource use data, any combinations thereof or any single data thereof. The emission data may include data relating to the carbon footprint of the input material. The emission data may include data relating to greenhouse gas emissions e.g. released in production of the input material. The emission data may include data relating to particulate matter formation emissions released in the production and / or during the use of the input material. The emission data may include a product carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions and / or particulate matter formation emissions associated with the input material. The provided input material data may further include composition data associated with the composition of the input material, the input material type, data associated with the supplier supplying the input material, data associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to, a date associated with the delivery of the input material or any combination thereof. The provided input material data may be associated with or relate to or include verifiable credential(s) including one or more proofs associated with the environmental attribute data or the generation thereof. By using verifiable credential(s) the reliability of the environmental attribute data may be verified, improving trust in the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) as well as in the environmental attribute data associated with chemical products resulting from allocating the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the input material(s) via the balancing units to the chemical products..

[0221] The provided input material data may be classified into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to a lower environmental impact of the input material compared to an average environmental impact of input materials delivered to the chemical production. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to lower environmental attribute data compared to average environmental attribute data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production. The environmental attribute data may include emission data, abiotic resource depletion potential data, photochemical ozone creation potential data, eutrophication potential data, ozone depletion potential data, energy demand data, water use data, land use data, human toxicity potential BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0222] 43 data, ecotoxicity potential data, waste generation data, ionizing radiation data, resource depletion data, end-of-life impact data, soil degradation data, noise pollution data, lower abiotic resource use data, any combinations thereof or any single data thereof. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to a lower carbon footprint, lower greenhouse gas emission, lower abiotic resource depletion potential, lower photochemical ozone creation potential, lower eutrophication potential, lower ozone depletion potential, lower energy demand, water use, lower land use, lower human toxicity potential, lower ecotoxicity potential, lower waste generation, lower ionizing radiation, lower resource depletion, lower end-of-life impact, lower soil degradation, lower noise pollution and / or lower abiotic resource use compared to an average carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emission, abiotic resource depletion potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential, cumulative energy demand, water use, land use, human toxicity potential, ecotoxicity potential, waste generation, ionizing radiation, resource depletion, end-of-life impact, soil degradation, noise pollution and / or abiotic resource use, respectively, of input materials delivered to the chemical production. The average environmental attribute data may be determined based on the environmental attribute data associated with input materials having been delivered to the chemical production.

[0223] The predefined environmental attribute data may define threshold environmental attribute data point(s) for classifying the environmental attribute data included in the provided input material data as being associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s) or as not being associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s). The predefined environmental attribute data may define threshold environmental attribute data point(s) for classifying the input material data as input material data being associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s) or not being associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s). For instance, the predefined environmental attribute data may define threshold emission data point(s) for classifying the input material data as being associated with emission reduction(s) or as not being associated with emission reduction(s). The emission reduction(s) may include carbon footprint reduction(s) and / or greenhouse gas emission reduction(s). The average environmental attribute data may define average environmental attribute per input material identifier or input material type identifier. The average environmental attribute data per input material identifier or input material type identifier may be determined based on environmental attribute data associated with input materials having been delivered to the chemical production, e.g. historic input material deliveries. This way, the average environmental attribute data included in the rule(s) may be dynamically adjusted, allowing to reflect changes in the average environmental attribute data of a given input material or input material type overtime and ensures reliable determination of the environmental attribute reduction(s) despite changing average environmental attribute data. Such dynamic adaption of the rule(s) ensures that environmental attribute reductions associated with delivered input materials are reliably determined and allocated to the virtual balancing account(s). This way, the environmental impact of chemical products may be selectively adjusted despite changes in the environmental attribute data associated with the delivered input materials. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0224] 44

[0225] The rule(s) may include executable instruction(s) configured to determine or identify the environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the input material data. The rule(s) may include executable instruction(s) configured to determine or identify the environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the environmental attribute data included in the provided input material data. The rule(s) may include executable instruction(s) configured to determine or identify the environmental attribute reduction(s) and to generating a binary classifier classifying the input material data as input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The classifier may indicate environmental attribute reduction(s) and no environmental attribute reduction(s). The rule(s) may be configured to compare the environmental attribute data included in the input material data to the predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data. The rule(s) may be configured to determine the difference between the environmental attribute data included in the input material data and the predetermined environmental attribute data and / or the average environmental attribute data. The rule(s) may be configured to compare the determined difference to a difference included in the predetermined environmental attribute data and / or the average environmental attribute data. This way, it can be ensured that only significant environmental attribute reduction(s) are allocated via the balancing units to the virtual balancing account(s). This allows to achieve a significant environmental impact reduction of chemical products by selectively allocating such environmental attribute reduction(s) to the chemical products.

[0226] The rule(s) may further be configured to validate the environmental attribute data included in the input material data, for example by verifying the verifiable credentials and / or by validating the environmental attribute data based on data used to generate the environmental attribute data, for example as described in the context of PCT / EP2024 / 075889 and / or PCT / EP2024 / 075850. The rule(s) may be configured to generate a classification result. The classification result may include the input material data linked to the generated classifier. The rule(s) may be associated with metadata indicating mandatory rule(s), e.g. rule(s) to be applied to the input material data, and optional rule(s), e.g. rule(s) that may be applied to the input material data. The rules may be associated with order data defining the order the rules are executed by the rule-based engine. The order may be a hierarchical order. The order may define that validation of the input material data is performed prior to determining or identifying the environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0227] Environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined for the delivered input materials if the environmental attribute data included in the input material data fulfil one or more of the rule(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined if the environmental attribute data fulfils all rule(s) defined as mandatory. No environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined if the environmental attribute data included in the input material data does not fulfil one or more of the rule(s). No environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined if the environmental attribute data does not fulfil all rule(s) defined as mandatory. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0228] 45

[0229] The data-driven model may be trained by selecting the input and outputs. The inputs and outputs may refer to the number of data points in each of the input and output layers which will be separated in the model by one or more layers of neurons. Any number of input and output data points may be utilized. There may be numerous data inputs, such as numerous environmental attribute data points and two data outputs, such as a classifier being “TRUE” if the environmental attribute data is associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) or “FALSE” if the environmental attribute data is not associated with environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0230] The data-driven model may be trained using a historical data set including input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The input material data may include environmental attribute data. The environmental attribute data may be associated with a classifier classifying the environmental attribute data into environmental attribute data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and environmental attribute data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute data or the respective input material data may be associated with a classifier indicating the presence of environmental attribute reduction(s) or a classifier indicating the absence of environmental attribute reduction(s). The historical data set may be generated by classifying historic input material data associated with multiple deliveries of multiple input materials using the rule-based engine. The historical data set may be split into a training data set, a validation data set, and a test data set (e.g., 70% training, 15% validation, 15% test).

[0231] The data-driven model may be selected from logistic regression models, feedforward neural network (FNNs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and / or random forest classifiers. The logistic regression models may include an input layer and an output layer. The output layer may be a single neuron with a sigmoid activation function to output probabilities for the two classes (e.g. input material associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s)). The feedforward neural network may include an input layer, one or more fully connected layers and an output layer. The fully connected layers may be associated with ReLU activation functions. The output layer may include a single neuron with a sigmoid activation function for the binary classification. The convolutional neural network may include an input layer, one or more convolutional Layers to extract features from the input data, one or more fully connected layers to process the extracted features and an output layer. The output layer may include a single neuron with a sigmoid activation function for binary classification. The random forest classifier may include an input layer, multiple decision trees and an output Layer. The output layer aggregates the predictions from all trees to make a final classification. The decision trees may include a root node, internal nodes and leaf nodes. A loss function suitable for binary classification, such as binary cross-entropy loss and optimization algorithm, such as stochastic gradient descent (SGD) or Adam may be selected. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0232] 46

[0233] The model may be trained on a training data set by minimizing the loss function using the chosen optimization algorithm. The training data set may include input material data a classifier discriminating between input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), e.g. environmental attribute data indicating a low environmental impact, and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), e.g. environmental attribute data not indicating a low environmental impact. Training may result in adjustment of the internal weights, or weighting algorithms, between the model neurons. The weights in a machine learning model may be adjusted by first calculating a gradient of the loss function with respect to each weight using backpropagation. The optimization algorithm may then adjust the weights by moving them in the direction that minimizes the loss, typically by subtracting a fraction of the gradient scaled by a learning rate. The validation data set may be applied to the trained data-driven model. The validation set typically does not adjust the internal weighting algorithms of the neural network as does the training set, but rather verifies that any increase in accuracy over the training data set yields an increase in accuracy over a data set that has not been applied to the neural network previously, or at least the network has not been trained on it yet (i.e. validation data set). If the accuracy over the training data set increases, but the accuracy over then validation data set remains the same or decreases, the process is often referred to be “overfitting” the neural network and training should cease. The test data set may be used for testing the validated trained data-driven model to determine the model’s ability to classify input material data not having been provided to the model during the training and the validation phase.

[0234] With reference to FIG. 6, classified input material data 602 resulting from classifying input material data associated with different deliveries of different input materials using the rule-based engine or the trained data-driven model is illustrated. The input material data may include an input material identifier, an input material type (IM type), data associated with the input material supplier (e.g. supplier country and supplier name), data associated with the production the input material is delivered to (e.g. production identifier), delivery year, amount of supplied input material per delivery and the environmental attribute data of the delivered input material. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, emission data, such as the carbon footprint, is given as an example of environmental attribute data. However, the input material data may also be associated with further or different environmental attribute data, e.g. environmental attribute data not including emission data. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the same input material, e.g. delivered input material associated with the same input material identifier, may be associated with different environmental attribute data, such as different carbon footprints, depending on the supplier the input material is delivered by. The input material data per delivery may be classified using the rule-based engine into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), e.g. emission reduction(s) 604 (e.g. low PCF = true) or into input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) 606 (e.g. low PCF = false). The classifier may be linked to the input material identifier per input material delivery. This way, the input material may be reliably classified into input material associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), such as a carbon footprint being significantly lower than the predefined carbon BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0235] 47 footprint data and / or the average carbon footprint data, and input material associated not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), such as a carbon footprint being higher than or equal to or not significantly lower than the predefined carbon footprint data and / or the average carbon footprint.

[0236] Returning to FIG. 5, environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined based on the classification (e.g. the classified input material data). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to the emission reduction per balancing unit. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined per input material delivery associated with input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute(s) reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined per input material associated with input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined per input material type associated with input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined for all input materials delivered within a given time period to chemical productions located in a given region and being associated with input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s).

[0237] The environmental attribute reduction may be determined based on the input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and the input material data classified as not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction may be determined based on the average environmental attribute data associated with a total amount of delivered input material associated with a given input material identifier relative to environmental attribute data associated with an amount of delivered input material - per delivery - associated with such input material identifier and the classifier indicating environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined based on the average environmental attribute data associated with a total amount of delivered input material associated with a given input material type identifier relative to the average environmental attribute data associated with the amount of delivered input material associated with such input material type identifier and the classifier indicating environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined based on the average environmental attribute data associated with a total amount of input material delivered within a given time period and / or to a given region to the average environmental attribute data associated with the amount of input material delivered within such time period and / or to such region and being associated with the classifier indicating environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to the difference between the average environmental attribute data associated with the delivery of input material per input material identifier, the environmental attribute data associated with an input material delivery associated with the classifier indicating environmental attribute reduction(s) and the amount of input material associated with such classifier. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to the difference between the average environmental attribute data associated with the delivery of input material per input material type identifier, the average environmental attribute data associated with BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0238] 48 input material type deliveries associated with the classifier indicating environmental attribute reduction(s) and the amount of input material associated with such classifiers. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may relate to the difference between the average environmental attribute data associated with the delivery of input material within a given time period and / or to a given region, the average environmental attribute data associated with input material deliveries received within such time period and / or within such region and being associated with the classifiers indicating environmental attribute reduction(s) and the amount of input material delivered within the time period and / or to the region and being associated with such classifiers.

[0239] The determined environmental attribute reduction(s) may be converted to balancing unit(s). The determined environmental attribute reduction per input material delivery, per input material, per input material type or for input materials delivered per time period and per region may be converted to balancing unit(s). The balancing unit(s) may be a quantitative measure of the determined environmental attribute reduction(s). The balancing unit(s) may be a digital representation of the determined environmental attribute reduction(s). The balancing unit(s) may be associated with the determined environmental attribute reduction(s). Each balancing unit may be associated with an environmental attribute reduction. The environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit may be determined based on the number of balancing unit(s) per input material delivery, per input material identifier, per input material type or per time period for a given region and the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such delivery, input material identifier, input material type or given region, respectively. The environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit may be determined based on the determined environmental attribute reduction(s). The environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit may relate to a reduction of a carbon footprint, a reduction of greenhouse gas emission, a reduction of abiotic resource depletion potential, a reduction of photochemical ozone creation potential, a reduction of eutrophication potential, a reduction of ozone depletion potential, a reduction of energy demand, a reduction of use, a reduction of land use, a reduction of human toxicity potential, a reduction of ecotoxicity potential, a reduction of waste generation, a reduction of ionizing radiation, a reduction of resource depletion, a reduction of end-of-life impact, a reduction of soil degradation, a reduction of noise pollution and / or a reduction of abiotic resource use. In addition, effort variable(s) associated with the balancing unit(s) may be determined. The effort variables may be determined for at least a part of the balancing units. The effort variables may be determined based on effort variables associated with input material data classified as being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). The effort variable may relate to changes in production processes, changes in production input(s), changes in production supplies and / or utilities or any combinations thereof. The effort variable may relate to the production effort such as changes in the production, costs of production inputs such as alternative materials, availability of production inputs such as alternative materials, costs for production supplies or utilities such as energy, availability of production supplies or utilities such as energy or any combinations thereof. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0240] 49

[0241] The determined balancing unit(s) may be associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s) and a balancing unit identifier. The determined balancing unit(s) may further be associated with the input material identifier of the input material and / or the effort variable. The determined balancing unit(s) may further be associated with the input material type identifier of the input material type. The determined balancing unit(s) may further be associated with input material identifiers or input material type identifiers associated with input materials delivered within a given time period. The determined balancing unit(s) may further be associated with a region identifier associated with a region the input materials are delivered to within a given time period. The balancing unit(s) may be associated with metadata (see FIG. 7B and FIG. 7C). The meta data may include the environmental attribute reduction and the balancing unit identifier and may further include input material identifier(s) and / or input material type identifier(s) and / or region identifier(s). The meta data may further include a delivery identifier associated with a delivery of input material, a production identifier associated with the production the input material is delivered to, a region identifier associated with the region the input material is delivered to and / or the effort variable.

[0242] The balancing unit identifier may uniquely identify balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material delivery, balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material identifier, balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material type or balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) per region identifier.

[0243] The balancing unit(s), e.g. the number of balancing units, may be determined based on a conversion factor associated with the input material data. The conversion factor may include mass, a predefined environmental attribute reduction per environmental attribute and / or predefined conversion factors associated with one or more environmental attribute(s). The predefined conversion factors may be associated with different units used for the environmental attribute(s). The predefined conversion factors may be associated with different units used for a given environmental attribute. At least a part of the environmental attributes may be associated with predefined conversion factors. The conversion factor may allow to convert reductions into balancing units. The conversion factor may allow to harmonize the use of different units per environmental attribute to a predefined unit. By converting the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) to balancing unit(s), environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with sourced input material(s) can be made transparent and can be used for selective allocation to chemical products. This way double counting on input or output is avoided and the environmental attribute reductions can be reliable assigned to chemical products.

[0244] The balancing unit(s), e.g. the number of balancing units, may be determined based on the input material quantity associated with the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material delivery. The balancing unit(s), e.g. the number of balancing units, may be determined based on the amount of input material associated with the determined environmental attribute reduction(s)per input material identifier. The balancing unit(s), e.g. the number of balancing units, may be determined based on the BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0245] 50 amount of input material associated with the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) per input material type. The balancing unit(s), e.g. the number of balancing units, may be determined based on the amount of input material associated with the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) delivered within a given time period and / or delivered to a given region. A conversion factor may be used to convert the amount of input material associated with the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) into a number of balancing units. The conversion factor may be a defined unit of mass or volume, such as 1 kg or 1 liter, of input material and optionally the predefined conversion factor. This way, the use of different units for one or more environmental attribute(s) may be considered, allowing to harmonize the unit of the environmental attribute reduction(s) and avoiding generation of multiple different balancing units for environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the same environmental attribute.

[0246] The balancing unit(s), e.g. the number of balancing units, may be determined based on the determined environmental attribute reduction(s). A conversion factor associated with environmental attribute reductions and optionally a predefined conversion factor may be used to determine the number of balancing unit(s) based on the determined environmental attribute reduction(s). The conversion factor may be associated with a reduction of a given environmental attribute. Different conversion factors may be used for different environmental attributes. This way, environmental attribute reductions associated with different environmental attributes may be reliably converted into balancing units. The conversion factor may be a defined unit of environmental attribute reduction, such as a reduction of 1 kg CO2 eq. per kg, and optionally the predefined conversion factor.

[0247] The balancing unit(s) may be allocated to a virtual balancing account for allocation of at least a part of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production. The virtual balancing account may be associated with a digital storage structure that stores data related to balancing units. The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B. The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying the virtual balancing account. The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions allocated to the virtual balancing account. The metadata may further identify the effort variable(s) associated with the balancing units. The metadata may identify the balancing units, environmental attribute reductions per balancing unit and optionally an effort variable per balancing unit. The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying the input material delivery, the input material, the input material type or the region the virtual balancing account is associated with. The virtual balancing account may be part of a virtual accounting system including multiple virtual balancing accounts (see FIG. 7A). The virtual balancing account may hold balancing units associated with environmental attribute reductions for transaction. Balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be allocated (e.g. added) or deallocated (e.g. deleted) from the virtual balancing account. The virtual balancing account may be a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain. The distributed ledger may store data indicating ownership of units of token(s) (e.g. balancing BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0248] 51 units). The tokens and token units may be associated with metadata (see FIG. 7C). Token units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be allocated or added to addresses or accounts associated with the virtual balancing account, such as a distributed ledger. Token units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be transferred or deducted from one address or account of the virtual balancing account to a further address or account of the virtual balancing account.

[0249] Allocating the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) may include generating transaction data and providing the generated transaction data to the virtual balancing account or the virtual accounting system. The transaction data may include the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s). The transaction data may further include an input material identifier, an input material type identifier, a time period, a region identifier and / or a chemical production identifier. The transaction data may be generated as described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The generated transaction data may be provided to the virtual balancing account or virtual accounting system for allocation of the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) included in the transaction data to at least one virtual balancing account. The virtual balancing account or the accounting system may be configured to allocate the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to the virtual balancing account or one of the virtual balancing accounts in response to receiving the transaction data. Allocating the balancing unit(s) may include executing code associated with the virtual balancing account to create balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) within the virtual balancing account or to transfer balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) from one address associated with the virtual balancing account to another address associated with the virtual balancing account, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4B.

[0250] The virtual balancing account or the accounting system may be associated with allocation rule(s) for allocating balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to virtual balancing accounts. The allocation rules may include executable instructions. The at least one allocation rule may be associated with at least one input material delivery, at least one input material, at least one input material type, at least one time period, at least one chemical production and / or at least one region. Examples of such allocation rule(s) are described in the context of FIG. 8.

[0251] Allocating the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) may include providing allocation rule(s) mapping balancing units and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to virtual balancing accounts. The allocation rule(s) may depend on the input material delivery, the input material, the input material type, the chemical production or the region of input material delivery. The allocation rule(s) may be linked to balancing unit metadata relating to input material delivery, the input material, the input material type, the chemical production or the region of input material delivery. Similarly, the virtual balancing account(s) may be linked to metadata relating to input material delivery, the input material, the input material type, the chemical production or the region of input material delivery. The allocation rule(s) BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0252] 52 may be configured to match the balancing unit metadata to the virtual balancing account metadata and to select virtual balancing account(s) associated with the greatest match in metadata for allocation of the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s). Here greatest match may refer to the maximal number of matching metadata points, in particular account metadata points matching at least in part with balancing unit metadata points. For example, the balancing units may provide more metadata than any virtual balancing account. In such a scenario the virtual balancing account with metadata points matching at least in part with metadata points of the balancing units may be selected for allocation.

[0253] The balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be selectively allocated from the virtual balancing account to a chemical product, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 to FIG. 12.

[0254] By registering environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials by way of balancing units in virtual balancing account(s) on entry of such input materials to the chemical production, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials can be made transparent and can be selectively allocated to chemical products produced by the chemical production, avoiding only minor environmental impact reductions of the chemical products due to equal distribution of such environmental attribute reductions to a large number of chemical products. This way, the environmental impact, such as the product carbon footprint, the abiotic resource depletion potential, the global warming potential, the photochemical ozone creation potential, the eutrophication potential, the acidification potential, the ozone depletion potential, the cumulative energy demand, the water use, the land use, the human toxicity potential, the ecotoxicity potential, the waste generation, the ionizing radiation, the resource depletion, the end-of-life impact, the soil degradation, the noise pollution and / or the abiotic resource use, of chemical products may be selectively controlled based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) allocated to the virtual balancing accounts while avoiding equal distribution of the environmental attribute reduction to all chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production.

[0255] By classifying the input material data using the rule-based engine or the trained data-driven model, reliable identification of environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production is enabled, allowing to allocate such environmental attribute reduction(s) via balancing units to virtual balancing accounts. This way, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production can be made transparent while at the same time enabling selective allocation of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to chemical products. This avoids an equal distribution of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to a large number of chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production, allowing to tailor the environmental impact of chemical products to the needs of chemical product consumers. By allocating the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) via balancing units to the virtual balancing account(s), the contribution of input materials with respect to environmental attribute can be tracked according to the BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0256] 53 physical stream of input materials into the chemical production. Specifically for chemical productions that source the same input material, e.g. an input material with a defined chemical composition, from multiple different suppliers, the registration of environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with at least a part of the sourced input material allows to flexibly and selectively allocate the such reduction(s) to chemical products in line with environmental attribute data defined for such chemical products, such as environmental attribute data defined for such chemical products by chemical product consumers. The use of virtual balancing accounts further allows to abstract the complexity of sourcing input materials associated with different environmental attribute data with respect to one or more environmental attribute(s) from multiple different suppliers while still allowing to reliably assign environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with at a part of the sourced input materials to produced chemical products. This way the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production can be made transparent and used for selective allocation to produced or producible chemical products.

[0257] FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B illustrate examples of a virtual accounting system storing balancing unit(s) associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). As for example shown in FIG. 7A, the virtual accounting system may include a plurality of virtual balancing accounts. The virtual balancing accounts may be associated with metadata relating to a delivery identifier, an input material identifier, an input material type identifier and / or a region identifier. Furthermore, the virtual balancing accounts may be associated with metadata relating to an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit. Furthermore, the virtual balancing accounts may be associated with an account balance quantifying the balancing units. The virtual balancing accounts may be associated with metadata identifying the virtual balancing account for balancing environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input material(s) delivered to the chemical production and an account balance quantifying the balancing units. Balancing units may be added or withdrawn, e.g. deducted, from such virtual balancing accounts.

[0258] The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying an input material delivery. The metadata may relate to a delivery identifier associated with the delivery of the input material to the production, an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, a production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit. As an example, five deliveries of ethyl acetate may be received at the chemical production. Two of such deliveries may include ethyl acetate associated with environmental attribute reduction, such as a reduced carbon footprint. The metadata of a first virtual balancing account may specify the delivery identifier associated with the first delivery of ethyl acetate associated with the environmental attribute reduction to the chemical production, an input material identifier associated with the delivered ethyl acetate, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the ethyl acetate is delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered ethyl acetate per balancing unit. The metadata of a second virtual balancing account may specify the delivery identifier associated with the second delivery of ethyl acetate associated with the environmental attribute BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0259] 54 reduction to the chemical production, an input material identifier associated with the delivered ethyl acetate, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the ethyl acetate is delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered ethyl acetate per balancing unit.

[0260] The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying an input material. The metadata may relate to an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit. Using the example of different deliveries of ethyl acetate from above, the metadata of the virtual balancing account may specify the input material identifier associated with the delivered ethyl acetate associated with the environmental attribute reduction, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the ethyl acetate is delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered ethyl acetate per balancing unit.

[0261] The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying an input material type. Input material types may include chemical input material classes, such as pigment, epoxy resin, polyurethane resin, polyacrylate resin, polyurethane-polyacrylate resin, solvent esters, solvent ethers, isocyanate or the like. The metadata may relate to an input material type identifier associated with the input material type the delivered input material is associated with, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit. Using the example of different deliveries of ethyl acetate from above, the metadata of the virtual balancing account may specify the input material type identifier of the input material type the delivered ethyl acetate associated with the environmental attribute reduction is associated with, such as "solvent esters", a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the ethyl acetate is delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered ethyl acetate per balancing unit.

[0262] The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata identifying a region and optionally a time period. The time period may include a defined time period, such as a year. The time period may be defined by a starting date and an end date or by a duration in days, month or year(s). The metadata may relate to a region identifier associated with the region input materials are delivered to, a time period and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit. As an example, nine deliveries of ethyl acetate, 4 deliveries of pigments and eight deliveries of epoxy resins may be received at chemical production(s) located in a given region. Six deliveries may be associated with ethyl acetate, pigments and epoxy resins associated with environmental attribute reductions. The metadata of the virtual balancing account may specify a region identifier associated with the region the ethyl acetate, pigments and epoxy resins are delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered input materials (e.g. ethyl acetate, pigments, epoxy resins) per balancing unit. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0263] 55

[0264] The virtual balancing account may be associated with an allocation scheme such as segregated allocation, non-segregated allocation like book and claim, mass balance with free attribution, mass balance without free attribution or combinations thereof.

[0265] The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata specifying a relationship between input material(s) associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) (e.g. low environmental impact input material(s)) and chemical product(s) or chemical product class(es) produced or producible using the input material(s). The relationship may relate to one or more production chain(s) of the chemical production producing the chemical product or chemical product class. For example, the input material(s) associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s) may be provided to one or more production chain(s) of the chemical production producing the chemical product or chemical product class. The relationship may relate to the chemical production, one or more production chain(s), one or more chemical product(s), one or more chemical product classes or any combinations thereof. By using metadata specifying the relationship, the input materials may be physically and / or chemically traceable. The metadata may be derived from a digital twin of the chemical production (or a portion of the chemical production). The metadata may be derived from a digital twin of the chemical production (or a portion thereof) and a production schedule.

[0266] The virtual balancing system may be based on virtual balancing accounts with static or dynamic metadata. For instance, if metadata provided via balancing units does not correspond to any metadata of existing virtual balancing accounts, a new virtual balancing account associated with such metadata may be created. Alternatively, or additionally, a given number of virtual balancing accounts and associated metadata may be provided and determined balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) may be allocated to the virtual balancing account associated with the greatest match in metadata as described in the context of FIG. 6.

[0267] In contrast to FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B illustrates a virtual accounting system including a virtual balancing account holding different types of balancing units. The balancing units stored in such account may be associated with metadata relating to a given input material delivery (not shown in FIG. 7B), a given input material, a given input material type or a given region via respective identifiers (e.g. delivery identifier, input material identifier, input material type identifier and region identifier, respectively). The balancing units may be associated with a balancing unit identifier relating to a delivery of input material, to an input material, to an input material type or to a region. This way, a single virtual balancing account may store different types of balancing units, allowing to reduce the number of virtual balancing accounts and hence also the complexity of the virtual accounting system while still ensuring reliable allocation of balancing units to and from such accounts. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0268] 56

[0269] FIG. 7C illustrates examples of balancing units and associated metadata. The balancing units may correspond to token units. The virtual balancing account balancing such balancing units may include a distributed ledger, such as a blockchain.

[0270] The distributed ledger may store one or more different token(s) in one or more addresses or accounts. Each token may be associated with metadata relating to a delivery identifier, an input material identifier, an input material type identifier and / or a region identifier. Furthermore, the token(s) may be associated with metadata relating to an environmental attribute reduction per token unit. The addresses or accounts may be associated with a balance quantifying the token units per token. The addresses or accounts may correspond to virtual balancing accounts. The addresses or accounts may be associated with the chemical production and / or a chemical producer operating the chemical production. The addresses or accounts may be associated with metadata identifying the addresses or accounts for balancing environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input material(s) delivered to the chemical production and an account balance quantifying the token units per token. The addresses or accounts may be associated with metadata identifying the input material per delivery, the input material, the input material type or the region and a time period. The token units may be transferred from one account or address to another account or address. The balancing units or token units may be created in an account or address associated with the distributed ledger, for example using executable code stored within the distributed ledger. The token units may be transferred to an address or account not being associated with a private key to enable burning of such token units. Hence, token units may not be deleted from the distributed ledger.

[0271] Each token may be associated with metadata defining the decimals, a token symbol and a token description. Each token may further be associated with a token identifier.

[0272] The token(s) may be associated with metadata identifying the input material per delivery. The metadata may relate to a delivery identifier associated with the delivery of the input material to the chemical production, an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit. As an example, five deliveries of ethyl acetate may be received at the chemical production. Two of such deliveries may include ethyl acetate associated with an environmental attribute reduction, such as a reduced carbon footprint. The metadata of a token may specify the delivery identifier associated with the first delivery of ethyl acetate associated with the environmental attribute reduction to the chemical production, an input material identifier associated with the delivered ethyl acetate, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the ethyl acetate is delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered ethyl acetate per balancing unit. The metadata of a second token may specify the delivery identifier associated with the second delivery of ethyl acetate associated with the environmental attribute reduction to the chemical production, an input material identifier associated with the delivered ethyl acetate, a chemical BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0273] 57 production identifier associated with the chemical production the ethyl acetate is delivered to and the environmental attribute reduction associated with the delivered ethyl acetate per balancing unit.

[0274] The token(s) may be associated with metadata identifying an input material. The metadata may relate to an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit.

[0275] The token(s) may be associated with metadata identifying an input material type. The metadata may relate to an input material type identifier associated with the input material type the delivered input material is associated with, a production identifier associated with the chemical production the input material is delivered to and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit.

[0276] The token(s) may be associated with metadata identifying a region and optionally a time period. The time period may include a defined time period, such as a year. The metadata may relate to a region identifier associated with the region the input material is delivered to, optionally a time period and an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit.

[0277] FIG. 8 illustrates examples of allocation rules for allocating balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to virtual balancing account(s).

[0278] The allocation rule(s) may depend on the destination of the delivered input material, such as Europe, Asia or America. The destination may relate to the country or region where the chemical production receiving the input material is located. The allocation rule(s) may depend on the input material type, such as epoxy resin, pigment, polyurethane resin, polyacrylate resin, polyurethane-polyacrylate resin, isocyanate, solvent esters. The allocation rule(s) may depend on the input material type and the production identifier associated with the chemical production receiving input material identified by the input material type. The allocation rule(s) may depend on the input material. The allocation rule(s) may depend on the input material and the chemical production receiving the input material. The allocation rule(s) may depend on a delivery of input material. The allocation rule(s) may depend on a delivery of input material to a chemical production.

[0279] Based on such allocation rules the balancing units determined on entry of the input material to the chemical production may be attributed or allocated to respective virtual balancing account(s).

[0280] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of the converting environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials delivered to a chemical production to balancing units and allocation of such environmental attribute reduction(s) to chemical products produced by the chemical production. The environmental attribute reduction(s) may be converted to balancing units as described in the context of FIG. 5. The balancing units may be allocated to chemical products as described in the context of FIG. 11 . BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0281] 58

[0282] Based on the non-limiting example of FIG. 9 an ester as solvent, a pigment and an epoxy resin may be provided as input material to the chemical production. For illustrative purposes the input materials listed in FIG. 6 may be provided to the storage(s) in the amounts listed in FIG. 6. The ester, pigment and epoxy resin may be delivered from different suppliers to the chemical production. Each delivered input material (e.g. ester, pigment, epoxy resin) may be associated with environmental attribute data, such as a product carbon footprint. At least a part of the delivered ester may be associated with a significantly lower product carbon footprint (e.g. low PCF solvent ester) than further ester associated with the same input material identifier and delivered to the chemical production. At least a part of the delivered blue pigment may be associated with a significantly lower product carbon footprint (e.g. low PCF pigment blue) than further blue pigment associated with the same input material identifier and delivered to the chemical production. At least a part of the delivered epoxy resin may be associated with a significantly lower product carbon footprint (e.g. low PCF epoxy resin) than further epoxy resin associated with the same input material identifier and delivered to the chemical production. While the product carbon footprint is used as an environmental attribute in the example of FIG. 9, the concepts therein are likewise applicable to further environmental attributes, such as greenhouse gas emissions, abiotic resource depletion potential, photochemical ozone creation potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential, ozone depletion potential, cumulative energy demand, water use, land use, human toxicity potential, ecotoxicity potential, waste generation, ionizing radiation, resource depletion, end-of-life impact, soil degradation, noise pollution and / or abiotic resource use. The delivered input materials may be stored in storages associated with the chemical production, such as tanks.

[0283] On providing these input materials to the storage(s), the input materials may enter the chemical production. The input material data per delivery, such as input material identifier, input material type data, supplier data, chemical production data, delivery year data, delivered amount data and environmental attribute data, may be provided to a computer interface configured to classify the provided input material data into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) using the rule-based engine or the data- driven model, to determine environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the classification, to convert the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) to balancing unit(s) and to allocate the determined balancing unit(s) to respective virtual balancing account(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 10. In the simplest example, the balancing units (BUs) may correspond to the amounts of the input materials associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s). In the example of FIG. 9, the emission reduction from delivered low PCF solvent ester with input material ID 1 may correspond to 700 BUs, the emission reduction from delivered low PCF solvent ester with input material ID 4 may correspond to 20 BUs, the emission reduction from delivered low PCF pigment blue with input material ID 3 may correspond to 300 BUs, the emission reduction from delivered low PCF epoxy resin with input material ID 3 may correspond to 200 BUs and the emission reduction from delivered low PCF epoxy resin with input material ID 5 may correspond to 600 BUs. In this example a simplified weight- BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0284] 59 based approach is used for illustrative purposes only. Other approaches may be based on the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) .

[0285] The balancing unit(s) may be associated with a balancing unit identifier. In this example, the balancing unit identifier may relate to the input material identifier. In another example, the balancing unit identifier may relate to the input material type identifier, a delivery identifier or a region identifier.

[0286] The balancing unit(s) may be associated with an environmental attribute reduction (e.g. reduction) per balancing unit, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5 and FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C. The environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit may be determined based on the average environmental attribute data, such as the average product carbon footprint, for all input materials associated with a given input material identifier, the environmental attribute data associated with the input material(s) of such input material identifier classified as low environmental impact input material(s) and the amount of delivered low environmental impact input material(s). The environmental attribute reduction may be an average reduction if more than one low environmental impact input material per input material identifier is delivered to the chemical production. This way the environmental attribute reduction of the low environmental impact input materials may be quantified with reference to convention input materials.

[0287] For allocation of the balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) a virtual balancing system may be provided. The virtual balancing system may include balancing account(s) associated with metadata relating to input material identifier(s), balancing units (BUs) stored in the account and a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical product. Furthermore, the virtual balancing accounts may be associated with an account balance quantifying the BUs. For allocation of the 700 BUs, the 300 BUs and the 600 BUs the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts may be matched with the metadata associated with such BUs. The BU metadata may be generated based on the input material data. Once a match in metadata is found the respective BUs and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) are allocated to the matched virtual balancing account. With reference to FIG. 10, the 700 BUs associated with the low PCF ester may be allocated to virtual balancing account 1 , the 300 BUs associated with the low PCF blue pigment may be allocated to virtual balancing account 2 and the 600 BUs associated with the low PCF epoxy resin may be allocated to virtual balancing account 3.

[0288] The ester, blue pigment and epoxy resin may be provided from the storage(s), such as the tank(s), to the mixture production. The mixture production may produce mixtures from the provided inputs by mixing processes. In the illustrative example, 300 kg ester, 80 kg blue pigment and 100 kg epoxy resin may be provided to mixture production and the mixture production may produce 480 kg of a mixture including the ester, the blue pigment and the epoxy resin. The produced 480 kg of the mixture may be provided to the exit point of the chemical production. Since input materials associated with environmental attribute reductions, such as low PCF ester, low PCF pigment blue and low PCF epoxy resin, were delivered to the chemical production, the associated environmental attribute reductions allocated in balancing units BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0289] 60

[0290] (BUs) to the respective virtual balancing account(s) can be assigned to such mixture to selectively reduce the environmental impact, such as the carbon footprint, of such mixture (see also FIG. 10). For instance, 300 BUs for the used ester, 80 BUs for the used blue pigment and 100 BUs for the used epoxy resin may be assigned to the mixture, which results in a carbon footprint of the mixture of 1.62. In contrast, a significantly higher average carbon footprint of the mixture of 4.67 would result upon equal distribution of the emission reductions to multiple mixtures produced by the mixture production. The average product carbon footprint may be determined from the carbon footprints of the conventional input material (e.g. ester, blue pigment, epoxy resin) and the input materials associated with the emission reduction(s) (e.g. low PCF ester, low PCF blue pigment, low PCF epoxy resin). Assignment of balancing units to the mixture may include assigning the balancing units to the mixture identifier. Assignment of balancing units to the mixture may include deducting the balancing units from the virtual balancing accounts. Assignment of balancing units to the mixture may include transferring the balancing units from the virtual balancing accounts. Deduction or transfer of the balancing units may result in a decrease of the account balances by the number of deducted / transferred balancing units.

[0291] By registering environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials in virtual balancing account(s) on entry of such input materials to the chemical production, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials can be selectively allocated based on target environmental attribute data to chemical products produced or producible by the chemical production, avoiding only minor environmental impact reductions of the produced chemical products due to equal distribution of such environmental attribute reductions to a large number of produced chemical products. This way, the environmental impact, such as the product carbon footprint, the abiotic resource depletion potential, the global warming potential, the photochemical ozone creation potential, the eutrophication potential, the acidification potential, the ozone depletion potential, the cumulative energy demand, the water use, the land use, the human toxicity potential, the ecotoxicity potential, the waste generation, the ionizing radiation, the resource depletion, the end-of-life impact, the soil degradation, the noise pollution and / or the abiotic resource use, of chemical products may be selectively controlled based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) allocated to the virtual balancing accounts while avoiding equal distribution of the such reduction to a large number of produced or producible chemical products.

[0292] FIG. 10 illustrate examples of data structures for assigning balancing units associated with environmental attribute reductions from virtual balancing accounts to a chemical product produced by a chemical production. The balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be assigned from one or more virtual balancing accounts to a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product. The chemical product may be a chemical product as described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0293] Based on the non-limiting example of FIG. 9 esters associated with environmental attribute reductions, blue pigments associated with environmental attribute reductions and epoxy resins associated with environmental attribute reductions may be provided to the chemical production. The environmental BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0294] 61 attribute reductions may be converted to the balancing units as shown in FIG. 9 and allocated to virtual balancing accounts, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5 and FIG. 9. The virtual balancing accounts may be associated with the input material identifier. The virtual balancing accounts may be associated with metadata relating the input material identifier, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7A to FIG. 7B. The virtual balancing account associated with the input material identifier of the ester has in this example a balance of 700 BUs, each of such BUs being associated with an emission reduction of 2.7 kg CO2 eq. / kg. The virtual balancing account associated with the input material identifier of the blue pigment has in this example a balance of 300 BUs, each of such BUs being associated with an emission reduction of 5.3 kg CO2 eq. / kg. The virtual balancing account associated with the input material identifier of the epoxy resin has in this example a balance of 600BUs, each of such BUs being associated with an emission reduction of 1 .4 kg CO2 eq. / kg.

[0295] For assignment of such BUs to a quantity of chemical product produced by the chemical production, such as 480 kg mixture, the chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product may be provided. The chemical product identifier may be associated with the chemical product provided to the exit point of the chemical production. The chemical product identifier may be associated with a chemical product producible by the chemical production, e.g. not yet having been produced by the chemical production. The chemical product identifier may relate to the chemical product specification. The chemical product identifier may relate to the chemical product specification and environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product, such as the carbon footprint.

[0296] As shown in FIG. 10, in addition to the chemical product identifier an environmental attribute identifier may be provided. The chemical product identifier may relate to the chemical product specification “coating material”. The chemical product identifier may be provided for pre-defined chemical products. The environmental attribute identifier may relate to environmental attribute data, such as a reduced carbon footprint data, associated with the chemical product compared to environmental attribute data resulting from equal distribution of the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the input materials. The environmental attribute identifier may be linked to the chemical product identifier. For assignment, the BUs may be assigned to the chemical product identifier, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 . The balancing units may be assigned based on allocation rule(s) associated with the virtual balancing account(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 and FIG. 12.

[0297] For allocation to the chemical product, the BUs per quantity of input material used to produce the product may be deallocated from the virtual balancing account and linked to the chemical product identifier. In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, 300 BUs may be deducted or transferred from virtual balancing account 1 , corresponding to the use of 300 kg of ester to produce the mixture, 80 BUs may be deducted or transferred from virtual balancing account 2, corresponding to the use of 80 kg of blue pigment to produce the mixture, and 100 BUs may be deducted or transferred from virtual balancing account 3, corresponding to the use of 100 kg of epoxy resin to produce the mixture. In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0298] 62 balancing units deducted or transferred from the virtual balancing accounts are corresponding to the quantities of input materials used to produce the mixture. However, less or more balancing units may be deducted or transferred compared to the quantities of input materials used to produce the mixture. This way, the resulting environmental attribute data, such as the carbon footprint, of the chemical product may be flexibly adjusted by allocating respective amounts of balancing units to the product chemical identifier. In another example, the BUs per environmental attribute reduction of input material used to produce the product may be deallocated or transferred from the virtual balancing account.

[0299] The deducted or transferred balancing units may be used to determine the reduction in environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product. The reduction in environmental attribute data resulting from allocation of the balancing units to the chemical product may be determined - per input material - based on the the allocated balancing units and the average environmental attribute data associated with the input materials used to produce the chemical product. The deducted or transferred balancing units may be converted to a total environmental attribute reduction and the total environmental attribute reduction may be deducted from average environmental attribute data associated with such input material. The average environmental attribute data may be determined for such input material based on environmental attribute data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and environmental attribute data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s). This way chemical products with environmental attribute data specifically tailored to chemical product consumer needs can be provided.

[0300] For linking the determined balancing units to the chemical product identifier, a digital asset or a non- fungible token may be generated. The digital asset or the non-fungible token may be linked via the chemical product identifier to the chemical product. The digital asset or the non-fungible token may include the environmental attribute identifier, the environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product and the chemical product identifier. The digital asset or the non-fungible token may be provided in association with the chemical product, for example via a decentral network as described in the context of FIG. 13A or FIG. 13B. Through the decentral network the environmental attribute data may be transferred between the producer of the chemical product and the user / customer of the chemical product. This way the environmental attribute data can be shared with unique association to the chemical product and without central intermediary directly between the value chain players. This allows for transparency of environmental attribute data across the value chain and positive environmental impacts from chemical products produced by the chemical production can be tracked through the value chain.

[0301] The chemical identifier may be uniquely linked to a chemical product producible by the chemical production, e.g. such chemical identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical product after production of the chemical product. The chemical product identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical product. A batch identifier and an order identifier may be provided and / or linked to chemical product identifier. This way the chemical product identifier may be uniquely BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0302] 63 linked to the physical entity of the chemical product exiting the chemical production. The chemical product identifier may be linked to the physical entity of the chemical product by way of a physical identifier with encoded chemical product identifier and physically connected to the chemical product. For example, a tag or a QR code may be physically connected to the chemical product and the chemical product identifier may be encoded into the tag or QR code. This way the chemical product identifier may be uniquely linked to the physical entity of the chemical product exiting the production.

[0303] FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product produced by a chemical production from one or more input materials delivered to the chemical production. The input material may include the input materials described in the context of FIG. 5. The chemical product(s) may include chemical products as described in the context of FIG. 5. The chemical production may be a chemical production as described in the context of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1 B.

[0304] The method illustrated in FIG. 11 may be implemented by an operating system of the chemical production, such as operating system 404 described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The method may be implemented by a digital system associated with the operating system. The method may be implemented by a digital system associated with a plurality of different chemical productions. The digital system may be associated with a plurality of different chemical productions located in one or more country / ies and / or region(s).

[0305] Chemical product data associated with the chemical product may be provided. The chemical product data may include a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product and target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product. The target environmental attribute data may refer to target carbon footprint data, target emission data, target abiotic resource depletion potential data, target global warming potential data, target photochemical ozone creation potential data, target eutrophication potential data, target acidification potential data, target ozone depletion potential data, target cumulative energy demand, target water use data, target land use data, target human toxicity potential data, target ecotoxicity potential data, target waste generation data, target ionizing radiation data, target resource depletion data, target end-of-life impact data, target soil degradation data, target noise pollution data and / or target abiotic resource use data. The chemical product data may further include product composition data associated with the chemical product composition and production data associated with the production of the chemical product. The product composition data may include input material data associated with input material(s) used to produce the chemical product. The input material data may include input material identifier(s) and associated input material amounts of input material(s) used to produce the chemical product. The production data may include a production identifier associated with the chemical production, a chemical product quantity produced or to be produced and a region identifier associated with the region the chemical production is located in. The chemical product data may be provided from a database storing such chemical product data. The database may be associated with the BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0306] 64 chemical production. The chemical product data may be provided before, during and / or after production of the chemical product. The chemical product may be provided in response to a sensor reading an identifier element physically connected to the chemical product.

[0307] One or more virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be provided. The balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may have been allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with the input material delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located in. The input material data may be classified using a rule-based engine or a data-driven model as described in the context of FIG. 5. Based on the classification, environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined and the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) may be converted to balancing units and allocated to virtual balancing account(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The virtual balancing account(s) may be associated with metadata as described in the context of FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C. The metadata may relate to a delivery identifier, an input material identifier, an input material type identifier, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production, a region identifier and / or a time period.

[0308] The virtual balancing account(s) may be associated with allocation rule(s) for allocating environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the delivered input material to chemical products produced by the chemical production. The allocation rule(s) may include executable instructions for allocating environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the delivered input material to chemical products produced by the chemical production. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to determine one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products. The at least one allocation rule may include instructions to determine one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products and / or the balancing units accessible for the chemical products. The allocation rule(s) may be associated with metadata signifying the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products. The allocation rule(s) may include instructions to determine the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products. The allocation rules may include instructions to verify or validate one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products. The allocation rules may include instructions to determine, verify and / or validate the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products. For determination of the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical product, the allocation rules may be associated with the chemical products or the chemical product identifiers the chemical products are associated with.

[0309] The allocation rules may include instructions to determine the input material(s) used to produce the chemical product. The allocation rules may include instructions to access product composition data comprising input material data associated with input material(s) used to produce the chemical product and to access production data associated with the production of the chemical product. From the product composition data and the production data, input material deliveries, input materials, input material types, BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0310] 65 chemical productions and / or regions may be determined. From the input material deliveries, input materials, input material types, chemical productions and / or regions, the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the at least one chemical product may be determined.

[0311] The allocation rules may include instructions to match the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts with the chemical product type corresponding to the chemical product. For determination of the one or more virtual balancing account(s) accessible for the chemical products, the allocation rules may be associated with the production chain. The allocation rules may include instructions to match the metadata of the virtual balancing accounts with the production chain. Such metadata matching may be executed for any combination of metadata associated with the virtual balancing account(s) and the allocation rules. Examples of allocation rule(s) associated with the virtual balancing accounts are described in the context of FIG. 12.

[0312] One or more virtual balancing account(s) for allocating environmental attribute reductions to the chemical product may be determined based on the chemical product data. Depending on the chemical product and the input materials such chemical product is produced from different virtual balancing accounts may be accessible for allocating environmental attribute reductions to the chemical product. The input materials may be determined from the product composition data. The product composition data may indicate the input materials used to produce the chemical product, the chemical production producing the chemical product and the region the chemical production is located. From the input materials used to produce the chemical product the accessible virtual balancing accounts associated with such input materials or input material types the input materials are associated with may be determined. Depending on the chemical production and / or the location of the chemical production, different virtual balancing accounts may be accessible for allocating environmental attribute reductions to the chemical product. The chemical production or the location may be determined from the production data. From the chemical production and / or the location the accessible virtual balancing accounts associated with such chemical production and / or the location may be determined. The virtual balancing accounts may be determined by matching metadata related to the virtual balancing accounts with the product composition data and / or the production data. The virtual balancing accounts may be determined by matching metadata related to the virtual balancing accounts with the input material identifiers and / or input material type identifiers included in the product composition data and / or with the chemical production identifiers and / or region identifiers included in the production data. The virtual balancing accounts may be selected based on matching data points. The virtual balancing accounts may be selected based on virtual balancing account metadata points at least in part matching the identifier(s) included in the product composition data and / or the production data.

[0313] The number of balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to be allocated to the chemical product may be determined based on the target environmental attribute data. The number of balancing unit(s) may be determined prior to or after determining the virtual balancing account(s). The BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0314] 66 number of balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to be allocated may be determined based on the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit stored in the determined account(s) and the target environmental attribute data. The number of balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to be allocated may be determined based on the target environmental attribute data and the product composition data. The number of balancing unit(s) and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to be allocated may be determined based on the amount(s) of input material(s) used to produce the chemical product, the chemical product quantity, the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit stored in the determined account(s) and the target environmental attribute data.

[0315] The determined balancing units may be compared to balancing units stored in the determined virtual balancing account(s). If the balance of the respective virtual balancing account(s) for the determined balancing units is not sufficient, the request to allocate environmental attribute reductions to the chemical product is rejected. If the determined balancing units are available, e.g. if the account balance is sufficient, the determined balancing units are deducted or transferred from the respective determined virtual balancing account(s) by linking the determined balancing units with the chemical product identifier. Linking may include generating a digital asset including the chemical product identifier and the target environmental attribute data. The digital asset may further include a decentral identifier. The digital asset may be provided to chemical product consumers via a decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 13A. Linking may include creating and providing transaction data to create a non- fungible token associated with the chemical product, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4B. The non-fungible token may include or be associated with the chemical product identifier and the target environmental attribute data. The non-fungible token may be provided to the chemical product consumers via a decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 13B.

[0316] By registering environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with input materials in virtual balancing account(s) on entry of such input materials to the chemical production, environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials can be selectively allocated based on target environmental attribute data to chemical products produced or producible by the production, avoiding only minor environmental impact reductions of the produced chemical products due to equal distribution of such environmental attribute reductions to a large number of produced chemical products. This way, the environmental impact, such as the product carbon footprint, the abiotic resource depletion potential, the global warming potential, the photochemical ozone creation potential, the eutrophication potential, the acidification potential, the ozone depletion potential, the cumulative energy demand, the water use, the land use, the human toxicity potential, the ecotoxicity potential, the waste generation, the ionizing radiation, the resource depletion, the end-of-life impact, the soil degradation, the noise pollution and / or the abiotic resource use, of chemical products may be selectively controlled based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) allocated to the virtual balancing accounts while avoiding equal distribution of the environmental attribute reduction to a large number of produced or producible chemical products. By BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0317] 67 linking the environmental attribute data of the chemical product obtained based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) deducted or transferred from the virtual balancing account(s) to the chemical product identifier, such environmental attribute data may be provided to downstream participants of the product ecosystem including the chemical product. This way, the environmental impact of the chemical product may be made transparent to the downstream participants and may aid in reduction of the environmental impact of products produced by such downstream participants using the chemical product.

[0318] FIG. 12 illustrates examples of allocation rule instructions for determining at least one virtual balancing account.

[0319] Depending on the chemical product and the input materials such chemical product is produced from different virtual balancing accounts may be accessible for allocating balancing units and associated environmental attribute reduction(s) to the chemical product. The input materials may be determined from the product composition data. The product composition data may indicate the input materials used to produce the chemical product, the chemical production producing the chemical product and the region the chemical production is located. From the input materials used to produce the chemical product the accessible virtual balancing accounts associated with such input materials or input material types the input materials are associated with may be determined. Depending on the chemical production and / or the location of the chemical production, different virtual balancing accounts may be accessible for allocating balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to the chemical product. The chemical production or the location may be determined from the production data. From the chemical production and / or the location the accessible virtual balancing accounts associated with such chemical production and / or the location may be determined.

[0320] The amount of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be determined based on target environmental attribute data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12.

[0321] For each accessible virtual balancing account, the account balance may be compared to the determined balancing units. Such comparison may result in one or more virtual balancing accounts being accessible for the chemical product based on the target environmental attribute data. Such accessible virtual balancing account(s) may be selected. Depending on the respective account balance one or more combinations of virtual balancing accounts may fulfil the determined balancing units. One combination of accessible virtual balancing accounts may be selected for example based on the combination with the highest account balance in respective virtual balancing accounts. This way the environmental attribute reductions required by stricter target environmental attribute data may still be fulfillable.

[0322] The balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be assigned from the respective virtual balancing account(s) to the chemical product identifier by linking the balancing units to the chemical product identifier. The linking may be performed on providing the chemical product to the chemical product consumer. The linking may be performed prior to production of the chemical product. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0323] 68

[0324] Linking may include generating a digital asset or non-fungible token associated with the chemical product, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11. This way the chemical product can be uniquely associated with the target environmental attribute data associated with the allocated balancing units via the chemical product identifier.

[0325] FIG. 13A illustrates schematically an example of a system for providing environmental attribute data linked to a chemical product by upstream node(s) associated with upstream participant(s) to downstream node(s) associated with downstream participant(s) using the chemical product to produce one or more products. The chemical product may be provided to a production producing the products. The production may be a chemical production or a discrete production. The production may be operated by OEM 206.

[0326] The chemical product 436 as produced by the chemical production 124 may be provided in association with a digital asset. The digital asset may include the chemical product identifier. The digital asset may include the environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product, such as a carbon footprint, the greenhouse gas emissions, the abiotic resource depletion potential, the global warming potential, the photochemical ozone creation potential, the eutrophication potential, the acidification potential, the ozone depletion potential, the cumulative energy demand, the water use, the land use, the human toxicity potential, the ecotoxicity potential, the waste generation, the ionizing radiation, the resource depletion, the end-of-life impact, the soil degradation, the noise pollution and / or the abiotic resource use. The digital asset may further include or relate to authentication and / or authorization information linked to the chemical product identifier. The authentication and / or authorization information may be provided for authentication and / or authorization of a data providing service 216 and / or data consuming service 218. The chemical product identifier may include or relate to a decentral identifier, that is uniquely associated with the chemical product. The decentral identifier may include at least one Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) or at least one Digital IDentifier (DID). The decentral identifier may include any unique identifier uniquely associated with a data owner and / or the chemical product. The data owner may be the producer of the chemical product. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and / or chemical product, access to the environmental attribute data may be controlled by the data owner. The decentral identifier may be connected to or included in a digital representation of the environmental attribute data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the environmental attribute data. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible by participant nodes of the decentral network. The digital representation may be stored in stored in a decentral registry associated with the chemical production and accessible for such participant nodes, such as DT registry 1320. Access to the decentral registry may be controlled by the data owner of the environmental attribute data, for example based on decentral participant identifiers of decentral network nodes associated with data consumers. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0327] 69

[0328] The digital asset may be stored in a decentral data base 1314 associated with the data owner, such as the producer of the chemical product, for access by data consumers. The database may be included in a data provider environment associated with the chemical production. The database may be part of environmental attribute management system 424 configured to allocate balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to chemical products produced by the chemical production, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11. The environmental attribute management system may be a system as described in the context of FIG. 4A. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner via the decentral identifier. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner via the decentral network node associated with the chemical production.

[0329] The chemical product may be physically delivered to a chemical product consumer. The consumer may be associated with a production producing products using the chemical product. The product may be a further chemical product. The product may be a discrete product. The production may be associated with a data consumer environment. The data consumer environment may include an environmental attribute management system 424 configured to register environmental attribute reductions associated with input material(s) via balancing units in virtual balancing accounts, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The environmental attribute management system may be a system as described in the context of FIG. 4A.

[0330] The chemical product may be connected with a QR-code having encoded the chemical product identifier. The QR-code may be read through a QR-code reader. The QR-code may encode the chemical product identifier. Based on the chemical product identifier a request to access the digital asset associated with the chemical product identifier may be triggered by the data consuming service 218. The chemical product identifier may be used by data consuming service 218 to determine the decentral identifier based on digital representations stored in decentral registry 1320, for example as described in the context of FIG. 3. The decentral identifier may be provided to the data providing service 218 associated with the producer of the chemical product. In addition, authentication and / or authorization information may be provided.

[0331] The request may be authenticated and / or authorized to access the digital asset associated with the chemical product identifier, for example as described in the context of FIG. 3. Based on successful authorization and / or authentication access to the digital asset associated with the chemical product identifier may be granted. The data providing service may use the received decentral identifier to retrieve the digital asset associated with the chemical product from the database storing the assets. The retrieved digital asset may be provided to the data consuming service 218. The data consuming service may provide the received digital assets to environmental attribute management system 424.

[0332] Through the decentral identifier the environmental attribute data can be uniquely associated with the chemical product. Through the decentral network the environmental attribute data may be transferred between the producer of the chemical product and the user / customer of the chemical product. This way BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0333] 70 the environmental attribute data can be shared with unique association to the chemical product and without central intermediary directly between the value chain players. This allows for transparency of environmental impact across the value chain and positive environmental impacts from chemical products produced by the chemical production can be tracked through the value chain.

[0334] FIG. 13B illustrates schematically a further example of a system for providing environmental attribute data linked to a chemical product by upstream node(s) associated with upstream participant(s) to downstream node(s) associated with downstream participant(s) using the chemical product to produce one or more products. The chemical product may be provided to a production producing the products. The production may be a chemical production or a discrete production. The production may be operated by OEM 206.

[0335] The chemical product 436 as produced by the chemical production 124 may be provided in association with a non-fungible token. The chemical product producer may selectively allocate units of tokens linked to environmental attribute reductions associated with input materials to the chemical products as described in the context of FIG. 11 . Allocating units of the token to the chemical product identifier of the chemical product may include creating a non-fungible token, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4B. The non-fungible token may be created by a third party on behalf of the entity operating the chemical production producing the chemical product. The non-fungible token may comprise data, such NFT data 1350. The NFT data may be recorded on the distributed ledger and may include the chemical product identifier, a batch ID, an order ID, an environmental attribute identifier and the environmental attribute data (e.g. product carbon footprint = 1.62 kg CO2 eq / kg). The NFT data may be linked with further metadata, for example via a pointer contained in the NFT data (not shown). Such further metadata may be stored off-chain. Such further metadata may include a code printed on the packaging of the chemical product. Such metadata may include safety data sheets and / or technical data sheets and or further documents associated with the transport of a chemical product. Such further metadata may be accessed via the NFT.

[0336] The non-fungible token may be owned by chemical product producer or the chemical production, e.g. the non-fungible token may be associated with an address or account controlled by the chemical product producer or the chemical production. The account or address may be controlled via a private key associated with the chemical product producer or the chemical production. The ownership may be recorded as entry in the distributed ledger of the distributed ledger network 1332.

[0337] Upon providing the chemical product to the product production, transaction data to transfer the NFT associated with said chemical product to an address or account controlled by the production or the chemical product consumer may be generated. Generation of the transaction data may be triggered upon registering exit of the chemical product from the chemical production. Exit may be registered upon transporting the chemical product to the production. The transaction data may be generated by a peer- BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0338] 71 to-peer module associated with chemical product producer or the chemical production. The transaction data may include the address associated with the production as well as data being indicative of the NFT to be transferred. The transaction data may be signed by a private key associated with chemical product producer or the chemical production. The transaction data may be provided to a node of the distributed ledger network. The distributed ledger network may validate the received transaction as described in the context of FIG. 4B. The distributed ledger network may store the received transaction in a new block of the block chain. Upon storing the received transaction in a new block of the block chain, ownership of the NFT has been transferred from chemical product producer or the chemical production to the chemical product consumer or the production.

[0339] This way the environmental attribute data of chemical products may be tracked through the value chain up to the end product. By tracking the environmental attribute data of chemical products in such way the information can be made transparent across the value chain while the information flow can be controlled by the participants in the supply chain. Overall, such tracking enables tracking of positive environmental impact by individual supply chain participants, which makes positive environmental impacts transparent and attributable to individual supply chain participants.

[0340] FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B illustrate examples of user interfaces for determining available balancing units and associated effort variables to achieve given target environmental attribute data for a given amount of a chemical product and for triggering allocation of such balancing units to a given virtual balancing account. The chemical product may be producible by a chemical production, such as described in the context of FIG. 1A and FIG. 1 B. The chemical product may not yet have been produced by the chemical production. The chemical product may include chemical products described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0341] The graphical user interface 1402 may be displayed by a system configured to determine the amount of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions based on a target amount of chemical product and the target environmental attribute data. The system may include an environmental attribute management system 424 described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The graphical user interface may be displayed in response to a request received from the user to determine the amount of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions based on the target amount of chemical product and the target environmental attribute data.

[0342] The graphical user interface illustrated in FIG. 14A may allow the user to enter the chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product and the target chemical product quantity. Based on the chemical product identifier, the system may be configured to gather product composition data associated with the chemical product identifier. The product composition data may include input material data identifying input material identifiers and associated amounts of input materials used to produce the chemical product. Based on the target chemical product quantity and the product composition data, the amounts of input materials required to produce the chemical product may be determined. Input material BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0343] 72 data associated with the input material identifiers may be gathered. The input material data may be associated with input materials available for production of the chemical product, such as input materials present within storage(s) of the chemical production. The input material data may include average environmental attribute data. The input material data may include an input material identifier and environmental attribute data per delivered amount of input material being available for the production of the chemical product. Based on the environmental attribute data, average environmental attribute data may be determined, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11. The average environmental attribute data of the chemical product may be determined based on the target chemical product quantity and the average environmental attribute data per amount of input material used to produce the target chemical product quantity. The determined average environmental attribute data of the chemical product may be provided for display within the graphical user interface.

[0344] The graphical user interface may further allow the user to enter the target environmental attribute data for the target amount of chemical product and a target effort variable associated with the target environmental attribute data. The user may trigger determination of the amount of required balancing units to meet the target environmental attribute data for the target chemical product quantity.

[0345] The system may have access to a virtual accounting system including virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions of input materials delivered to the chemical production or a region the chemical production is located in. The virtual balancing accounts may be associated with metadata relating to an environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit stored in the respective account. The metadata may further relate to an effort variable per balancing unit stored in the respective account.

[0346] The system may be configured to determine virtual balancing accounts accessible for the chemical product as described in the context of FIG. 11 and FIG. 12. The system may further be configured to determine the required number of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to fulfil the target environmental attribute data for the target chemical product quantity based on the amount(s) of input material(s) used to produce the chemical product, the target chemical product quantity, the environmental attribute reduction per balancing unit stored in the determined account(s) and the target environmental attribute data. The system may be configured to determine the effort variables associated with the determined number of balancing units and to compare the determined effort variables with the target effort variable. The system may be configured to optimize the amount of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions per input material based on the target effort variable defined by the user. The system may be configured to execute an optimization algorithm configured to optimize an objective function with respect to balancing units and / or associated environmental attribute reductions, and effort variables associated with the balancing units and / or environmental attribute reductions using the target environmental attribute data and the target effort variable as constraint(s). The optimization algorithm may generate - based on the target environmental attribute data and the target BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0347] 73 effort variable - for the target chemical product quantity the amounts of balancing units to be used for meeting the target environmental attribute data defined for the target chemical product quantity by the user.

[0348] The system may be configured to compare the determined number of balancing units to the account balancing of determined virtual balancing accounts. If the determined number of balancing units cannot be fulfilled by the account balance(s) and / or the target effort variables cannot be fulfilled by the determined number of balancing units, the system may be configured to reject the request and may generate message data indicating rejection of the request. The message data may be provided for display.

[0349] If the determined number of balancing units can be fulfilled by the account balance and the determined number of balancing units satisfies the target effort variable, the system may be configured to generate a graphical user interface as illustrated in FIG. 14B. The graphical user interface may display data entered by the user to determine the balancing units, such as chemical product identifier, target environmental attribute data, such as target carbon footprint, and target chemical product quantity. The graphical user interface may further display data determined by the system configured to display the graphical user interface, such as environmental attribute management system 424. Determined data may include average environmental attribute data associated with the target chemical product quantity (see FIG. 14A), the number of balancing units required to achieve the target environmental attribute data for the target chemical product quantity and the effort variable required to achieve the target environmental attribute data. The user may trigger allocation of the determined balancing units to a given virtual balancing account. The virtual balancing account may be associated with the chemical product, a given chemical production, a given chemical production plant, a given production process used to produce the chemical product and / or a consumer of the chemical product to be produced. The virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata related to the chemical product, the chemical production, the chemical production plant, the production process and / or the chemical product consumers. The balancing units allocated to such virtual balancing account may be used for allocation to chemical products to be produced by the chemical production, the chemical production plant, the production process or for the consumer of the chemical product. This way, environmental attribute reductions may be secured in advance based on currently available environmental attribute reductions to ensure fulfilment of future consumer needs without being dependent on the environmental attribute reductions available based on delivered input materials at the time the consumer request is received.

[0350] FIG. 15 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of one or more chemical products to be produced from one or more input materials by a chemical production. The chemical products may include chemical products described in the context of FIG. 5. The chemical product(s) may include chemical products as described in the context of FIG. 5. The chemical production may be a chemical production as described in the context of FIG. 1 A and FIG. 1 B. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0351] 74

[0352] The method illustrated in FIG. 15 may be implemented by an operating system of the chemical production, such as operating system 404 described in the context of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. The method may be implemented by a digital system associated with the operating system. The method may be implemented by a digital system associated with a plurality of different chemical productions. The digital system may be associated with a plurality of different chemical productions located in one or more country / ies and / or region(s).

[0353] One or more virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may be provided. The balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions may have been allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with the input material delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located in. The input material data may be classified using a rule-based engine or a trained data-driven model as described in the context of FIG. 5. Based on the classification, the environmental attribute reduction(s) may be determined, the determined environmental attribute reduction(s) may be converted to balancing units and the balancing unit(s) may be allocated to virtual balancing account(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The virtual balancing account(s) may be associated with metadata as described in the context of FIG. 7A to FIG. 7C. The metadata may relate to a delivery identifier, an input material identifier, an input material type identifier, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production, a region identifier and / or a time period.

[0354] The virtual balancing account(s) may be associated with allocation rule(s) for allocating environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with the delivered input material to chemical products producible by the chemical production, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 .

[0355] A request for allocation of balancing units associated with environmental attribute reductions from the one or more virtual balancing account(s) to a further virtual balancing account may be provided. The request may include a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product to be produced, target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product to be produced, a target quantity of the chemical product to be produced and data associated with the further virtual balancing account. Data associated with the further virtual balancing account may include an account identifier associated with the account. The request may further include a target effort variable associated with the target environmental attribute data, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production, a chemical production plant identifier associated with a production plant included in the chemical production, a production process identifier associated with a production process to be used for producing the chemical product, a chemical product consumer identifier associated with a consumer of the chemical product, any combinations thereof or any single data point / identifier thereof. The request may be provided via a user interface, for example as described in the context of FIG. 14A. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0356] 75

[0357] The virtual balancing account(s) and the number of balancing units may be determined based on the request. Determining the virtual balancing account(s) and the number of balancing units may include gathering product composition data associated with the chemical product to be produced and production data associated with the production of the chemical product based on the chemical product identifier. The product composition data may include input material data associated with input materials to be used for the production of the chemical product. The input material data may include input material identifier(s) and input material amounts associated with such input materials. The input material data may further include input material type identifiers associated with the input material class the input material is associated with. The production data may include a production identifier associated with the chemical production to be used for producing the chemical product and / or a region identifier associated with the location of the chemical production. Based on the input material identifier(s), the input material type identifier(s), the production identifier and / or the region identifier, virtual balancing accounts accessible for allocation of balancing units to the chemical product to be produced may be determined, for example as described in the context of FIG. 11 .

[0358] Based on the target product quantity, the amount of input materials required to be provided for production of the chemical product may be determined. Based on the quantity of input materials, average environmental attribute data and the target environmental attribute data, the balancing units may be determined. The average environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product to be produced may be determined as described in the context of FIG. 14A. The balancing units may be determined using an optimization algorithm considering the target environmental attribute data and the target effort variable as constraint, for example as described in the context of FIG. 14A. Based on the determined balancing units, the effort variable may be determined. Determining the effort variable may include summing up the effort variables per determined balancing unit.

[0359] The request may be validated by comparing the determined number of balancing units to the account balance of the determined virtual balancing account storing such balancing units. Validation may further include comparing the target effort variable to the determined effort variable. The request may be validated if the determined number of balancing units can be fulfilled by the account balance. The request may be validated if the determined number of balancing units can be fulfilled by the account balance and the determined effort variable satisfies the target effort variable. The request may not be validated if the determined number of balancing units cannot be fulfilled by the account balance. The request may not be validated if the determined number of balancing units cannot be fulfilled by the account balance and / or the determined effort variable does not satisfy the target effort variable.

[0360] Upon validation of the request, the determined number of balancing units may be allocated to the further virtual balancing account. The further virtual balancing account may be associated with the chemical product identifier, a given chemical production, a given chemical production plant, a given production process used to produce the chemical product and / or a consumer of the chemical product to be produced. BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0361] 76

[0362] The further virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata related to the chemical product identifier, the chemical production, the chemical production plant, the production process and / or the chemical product consumers. The further virtual balancing account may be associated with allocation rule(s) for allocating the balancing units to the chemical products to be produced. The allocation rule(s) may be associated with or may be configured to allocate balancing units based on the chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product to be produced. This way, allocation of balancing units may be restricted to defined chemical products to be produced, avoiding that the balancing units are allocated to further chemical products producible by the production.

[0363] Allocation may include determining the further virtual balancing account. The further virtual balancing account may be determined based on data included in the provided request, such as data associated with the further virtual balancing account. Virtual balancing account(s) associated with metadata at least in part matching data included in the received request may be selected for allocation of the determined balancing units. If no virtual balancing account with matching metadata could be identified, a new virtual balancing account may be generated based on at least part of the data included in the received request. The generated virtual balancing account may be associated with metadata. The metadata may be generated based on at least part of the data included in the received request. The metadata may relate to the chemical product identifier, the chemical production, the chemical production plant identifier, the production process identifier and / or the chemical product consumer identifier.

[0364] Allocation may include deducting the determined balancing units from the respective determined virtual balancing account(s) and adding the deducted balancing unit(s) to the further virtual balancing account. This way, the account balance(s) of the determined virtual balancing account(s) may be reduced while the account balance of the further virtual balancing account may be increased.

[0365] Allocation may include generating transaction data and providing the transaction data to a distributed ledger network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4B. The transaction data may include the address or account storing the determined balancing units, the amount of balancing units to be transferred and the address or account the balancing units are to be transferred to. The address or account the balancing units are to be transferred to may be controlled by or associated with the chemical production to be used to produce the chemical product. The address or account the balancing units are to be transferred to may be controlled by or associated with the chemical product to be produced.

[0366] Upon non-validation of the request, the fraction of determined balancing units accessible for allocation may be allocated to the further virtual balancing account. Upon non-validation of the request, the request may be rejected and no balancing units may be allocated to the further virtual balancing account. Upon non-validation of the request, order data for ordering input materials may be generated. The order data may be generated in addition to allocation of the fraction of balancing units to the further virtual balancing account. The order data may include target environmental attribute data associated with the input BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0367] 77 material(s) and a target effort variable associated with the target environmental attribute data. The order data may be associated with the chemical product identifier and / or the further virtual balancing account. The target environmental attribute data may be determined based on the difference between the determined balancing units and the account balance(s). The target effort variable may correspond to the difference between the target effort variable and the effort variable associated with the fraction of determined balancing units accessible for allocation. Based on the order data, the stream of input materials to the chemical production may be controlled and / or monitored. The environmental attribute reductions associated with input materials delivered in response to such order data may be converted into balancing units, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5 and may be allocated to the further virtual balancing account. The further virtual balancing account may be determined based on the order data, such as the chemical product identifier or a virtual balancing account identifier, included in the input material data associated with the supplied input material.

[0368] By allocating balancing units required to achieve target environmental attribute data, such as a target emission data, target abiotic resource depletion potential data, target global warming potential data, target photochemical ozone creation potential data, target eutrophication potential data, target acidification potential data, target ozone depletion potential data, target cumulative energy demand, target water use data, target land use data, target human toxicity potential data, target ecotoxicity potential data, target waste generation data, target ionizing radiation data, target resource depletion data, target end-of-life impact data, target soil degradation data, target noise pollution data and / or target abiotic resource use data, of a chemical product to be produced to a virtual balancing account associated with such chemical product, e.g. the further balancing account, the required balancing units to achieve the target environmental attribute data may be secured in advance with regard to the production of the chemical product and / or in advance to a request received from a chemical product consumer requesting delivery of a chemical product associated with such target environmental attribute data. This way, environmental attribute reductions available based on environmental attribute(s) associated with delivered input materials may be reliably secured, allowing to ensure fulfilment of future chemical product consumer needs without being dependent on the environmental attribute reductions associated with delivered input materials at the time the consumer request is received. By requesting allocation of balancing units required to achieve target environmental attribute data of a chemical product to be produced, the delivery of input materials associated with environmental attribute reductions required to fulfil the allocation request may be triggered and / or controlled in line with environmental attribute reductions associated with the requested allocation of the balancing units. This way, control over the physical stream of input materials with respect to the environmental attribute reductions associated with such physical stream may enhanced. By requesting allocation of balancing units required to achieve target environmental attribute data of a chemical product to be produced, transparency on the required environmental attribute reductions is enabled. Such transparency allows to control input material streams BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0369] 78 to the chemical production based on the environmental attribute reduction(s) associated with such input materials.

[0370] By generating order data in response to non-validation ofthe request, supply of input materials associated with environmental attribute data required to achieve the target environmental attribute data defined for the chemical product to be produced may be controlled and / or monitored. This way, supply of input materials associated with environmental attribute reductions missing to achieve the target environmental attribute data defined for the chemical product to be produced may be controlled and / or monitored prior to production of the chemical product, ensuring that the environmental attribute reductions required to fulfil future customer needs with respect to the environmental attribute data of the chemical product to be produced may be fulfilled despite the lack of available environmental attribute reductions at the time the request was provided. This may allow to monitor and / or control the stream of input materials to chemical production(s) according to the emission environmental attribute required to fulfil future customer needs, hence avoiding shortage(s) of required balancing units upon receiving the customer request for chemical products associated with a target environmental attribute data.

[0371] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practising the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the claims.

[0372] Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a specific order of these steps. It is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or in a certain computing node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different computing nodes using different equipment / data processing.

[0373] As used herein ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", “generating" also includes ..initiating and / or causing to generate" and “providing” also includes “initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and / or receive”. “Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0374] In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” or “including” or similar wording does not exclude other elements or steps and shall not be construed limiting to the elements or steps lined out. The indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfil the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation or further elements may be included.

[0375] Providing in the scope of this disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include an application programming interface, a human-machine interface such as a display and / or a BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001

[0376] 79 software module interface. Providing may include communication of data or submission of data to the interface, in particular display to a user or use of the data by the receiving entity.

Claims

BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W00180CLAIMS1. A method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for monitoring the environmental impact of an input material delivered to a chemical production for producing one or more chemical product(s) and / or the chemical production using the input material to produce one or more chemical product(s), wherein the input material is delivered in at least two deliveries to the chemical production, the method comprising:- providing input material data associated with the input material per delivery of the input material to the chemical production, wherein the input material data per delivery includes an input material identifier associated with the delivered input material, an input material quantity provided to the chemical production per delivered input material, and environmental attribute data associated with one or more environmental attribute(s) associated with the delivered input material,- classifying the provided input material data into input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,- determining environmental attribute reduction(s) based on the classification and converting the determined environmental attribute reduction(s), to balancing unit(s),- allocating the determined balancing unit(s) to a virtual balancing account for allocation of at least a part of the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions to at least a part of the chemical products produced by the chemical production.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the environmental attributes is / are associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s).

3. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the average environmental attribute data is determined based on environmental attribute data per input material identifier associated with the input material having been delivered to the chemical production or to a given region.

4. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) are determined based on the input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s) and average environmental attribute data per input material identifier, per input material type identifier and / or per region identifier, in particular wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) are determined per input material delivered to the production, per input material, per input material type, per region and / or per time period.BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W001815. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) relate(s) to reduced environmental attribute data with respect to average environmental attribute data associated with the input material.

6. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) relate(s) to a reduction of a carbon footprint, a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a reduction of abiotic resource depletion potential, a reduction of photochemical ozone creation potential, a reduction of eutrophication potential, a reduction of acidification potential, a reduction of ozone depletion potential, a reduction of cumulative energy demand, a reduction of water use, a reduction of land use, a reduction of human toxicity potential, a reduction of ecotoxicity potential, a reduction of waste generation, a reduction of ionizing radiation, a reduction of resource depletion, a reduction of end-of-life impact, a reduction of soil degradation, a reduction of noise pollution and / or a reduction of abiotic resource use, in particular a reduction of a carbon footprint. .

7. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) are determined per delivery of input material associated with the environmental attribute reduction(s), per input material identifier, per input material type identifier associated with an input material type the delivered input material is associated with or for input materials delivered to the chemical production or a region within a given time period.

8. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each balancing unit is associated with an environmental attribute reduction and wherein the environmental attribute reduction is associated with one of the environmental attributes.

9. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the balancing unit(s) are associated with a delivery identifier associated with a delivery of the input material, the input material identifier, an input material type identifier associated with an input material type the input material is associated with, a chemical production identifier associated with the chemical production and / or a region identifier associated with the region the chemical production is located in.

10. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) is / are converted to balancing unit(s) based on a conversion factor associated with the input material data, in particular wherein the conversion factor includes mass, a predefined environmental attribute reduction per environmental attribute and / or predefined conversion factor(s) associated with at least a part of the one or more environmental attributes.

11. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the environmental attribute reduction(s) is / are converted to balancing unit(s) based the input material quantity associated with input material data classified as input material data associated with environmental attribute reduction(s), inBASF Coatings GmbH 240553W00182 particular per input material delivery, input material identifier, input material type identifier or region identifier.

12. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the virtual balancing account is associated with metadata identifying the balancing units, environmental attribute reductions per balancing unit and optionally an effort variable per balancing unit and further associated with input material delivery identifier, the input material identifier, an input material type identifier and / or a region identifier.

13. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein allocation of the determined balancing unit(s) to the virtual balancing account includes- providing allocation rules configured to match identifier(s) associated with balancing units to identifier(s) associated with virtual balancing accounts,- determining the virtual balancing account by matching at least a part of the identifiers associated with the determined balancing unit(s) to identifier(s) associated with virtual balancing account(s),- allocating the determined balancing unit(s) to the determined virtual balancing account.

14. A method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product to be produced from one or more input materials by a chemical production, the method comprising:- providing virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions, wherein the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions are allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located and wherein the input material data is classified using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,- providing a request for allocation of balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions from the one or more virtual balancing account(s) to a further virtual balancing account, wherein the request includes a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product to be produced, target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product to be produced, a target quantity of the chemical product to be produced and data associated with the further virtual balancing account,- determining the virtual balancing account(s) and the balancing units based on the request,BASF Coatings GmbH 240553W00183- validating the request by comparing the determined number of balancing units to the account balance of the determined virtual balancing account(s),- based on the validation, allocating the determined balancing units to the further virtual balancing account based on the request.

15. A method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for monitoring and / or controlling an environmental impact of a chemical product produced or producible by a chemical production from one or more input materials, the method comprising:- providing chemical product data associated with the chemical product, wherein the chemical product data includes a chemical product identifier associated with the chemical product, a chemical product quantity and target environmental attribute data associated with the chemical product,- providing virtual balancing account(s) storing balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions, wherein the balancing units and associated environmental attribute reductions are allocated to the virtual balancing accounts based on a classification of input material data associated with input materials delivered to the chemical production or delivered to a region the chemical production is located and wherein the input material data is classified using a rule-based engine including one or more rule(s) associated with predefined environmental attribute data and / or average environmental attribute data or using a data-driven model trained on historical data sets including input material data associated with environmental attribute reductions and input material data not being associated with environmental attribute reductions,- determining at least one virtual balancing account and balancing units to be allocated based on the chemical product data,- allocating the determined balancing units from the determined virtual balancing account(s) to the chemical product by linking the determined balancing units to the chemical product identifier.

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